Heiji and Kazuha: 30 Kisses
by fireblazie
Summary: They were always together. Always. Nobody imagined them any other way. 30 sweet kisses for 30 small peeks at their intertwined lives.
1. Childhood Innocence

Ahh. Yes. Another Heiji/Kazuha. Couldn't resist. (sweatdrops) This will be more of a little SIDE-PROJECT, though - I'll just be working on it whenever I feel like it. I've got another fic planned in the back of my mind... (grins secretively)

**Title: **Childhood Innocence**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #28 - Wada Calcium CD3  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

Before Heiji turned fourteen and started his growth spurt, Kazuha had always - **always** - been taller than him. It was a fact that had irritated him to no end, especially since Kazuha always teased him about it.

When they were five, she was about a head taller than him. And whenever they got into an argument - which happened quite often - she would use her height to her advantage. She would draw herself up to her full height, place her hands on her hips, and yell, as loudly as she could. Which was a lot worse than it sounded, because when Kazuha started to scream, she **screamed**. She sure had some set of lungs.. He'd seen her making grown men wince at the sheer volume of her shrieks. Heiji had figured that before long, he'd either grow deaf or immune to her voice. He'd prayed for the former, but had somehow gotten the latter. Which, franky, stunk, because she could still get through to his ears..

Anyways...

When they were both eleven, another **boy** had decided to waltz right up to the two of them and had promptly begun flirting with Kazuha - "He wasn't flirting!" Kazuha had insisted afterwards, "we were just talking, Heiji!" - which had incited a strange, clenching feeling in the pit of Heiji's stomach. Never being one to to keep his mouth shut, the dark-skinned boy cleared his throat loudly to make his presence known.

"What do you think you're doing?" he questioned the other boy.

"I'm talking to Kazuha-san," the boy replied, and Heiji glared at him with distaste. He was older than the two of them by a year, and as Kazuha stood up next to him, he saw that he was taller than her.

"Well, **I** was talking to her first," Heiji told him, stubbornly. "So go away!"

"Heiji," Kazuha admonished, "he's not doing anything wrong."

"Keh," Heiji snorted, but kept a close eye on the two of them anyway. His eyes narrowed as the boy, whose name he'd learned was Hiro-kun, moved closer to Kazuha. They talked for awhile, about stupid, pointless things, and he positively glowered at the bast - uhhh, Hiro-kun's retreating back. As soon as they were alone, he approached Kazuha, angry and furious, but not understanding why.

"What was that about?" he demanded.

"We were just talking!" she replied, eyes glinting dangerously. "Why? Were you jealous?"

"I - Idiot!" he sputtered, quickly turning the other way. "He was all over you. It was disgusting to watch."

"I - di - ot!" Kazuha sang, sticking her tongue out at him. "He's cute and all, but he's nothing special. Anyway, didn't you hear? He's with Mikoto-san! They actually kissed last week!" A girly giggle, with Heiji rolled his eyes at. "Though he is really tall, though, huh? Unlike someone."

"Are you talking about me?" Heiji glared. The truth was, he was extremely sensitive about his height - he was one of the shortest boys in class. He knew that he would someday grow to be taller than the rest of them - if his father's height was any indication, Heiji knew he was going to grow up to be a **giant** - and eventually, outgrow Kazuha.

"Of course! You little - tiny - midget!"

"Why, you!" Heiji growled, and gave chase.

When he got back home that night, as he was dutifully taking his vitamins - his mother said that they would keep him healthy - his eyes landed on another bottle in the medicine cabinet. His eyes squinted to read, and then he positively lit up.

"Calcium pills," he said, slowly. "Calcium pills!"

Being the extremely smart young boy he was, Heiji knew that calcium helped to strengthen bones, and helped to grow! Therefore, if he took these calcium pills, he was sure to grow taller! He opened the lid and popped the pill in his mouth.

He waited.

And waited.

Nothing happened.

"Maybe," he murmured to himself, "it works overnight!" And quickly brushed his teeth, got dressed for bed, and went to sleep.

The next day, he was still the same height. Shorter than Kazuha. As they walked to school, he sulked silently.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked him, but a grumble was the only response.

/-/

Finally, when they were fourteen, they were walking down the hall at school when he turned to look at her -

And realized -

That he no longer had to look **up** -

But instead, he had to look **down** at her...

"YES!" Heiji burst out gleefully, jumping up and down excitedly. "YES, YES, YES!"

Kazuha sweatdropped and stared at him, bewildered. "What's up with him?"

- fin -


	2. Because of You

**Title: **Because of You**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #29: the sound of waves  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

A few years ago - they were about thirteen or fourteen, he thought - they once went on a cruise with both of their families. This was Heiji's third time on sea, but it was Kazuha's first.

"Wow," she breathed, leaning over the edge and letting the wind tousle her hair. "It's amazing, isn't it, Heiji?"

Heiji shrugged - in reality, he was beginning to feel a little seasick and inhaled the air to try to feel better. From where he stood, he could hear the gentle sound of the waves lapping against the ship.

"Geez," Kazuha said, pouting. "You're such a killjoy, Heiji."

"Pah," was the only response from the dark-skinned boy. Boy, was he feeling dizzy... This hadn't happened the last couple of times he'd been on the sea, though. What could be the reason? Glancing around and vaguely hearing Kazuha's nagging voice permeate his ears, he came to one conclusion.

"AHO!" he yelled, attracting some amused stares from passers-by. He was glad his parents weren't within ear-shot, though, because he often got told off for saying such nasty things to Kazuha. "It's all **your** fault, anyway!"

"My - my - **my** fault!" Kazuha sputtered.

"Yes! Your fault!" Heiji glared. "I've been on sea two times before! And both times, I was perfectly fine! But today - today, **you're** here, and now I'm getting sea - sea -" He teetered dangerously, and grabbed at a nearby lounge chair to keep on his feet. He continued to glower at her once he'd regained his balance. "Seasick," he finished.

Kazuha smacked him upside the head - which really, really hurt. "Aho," she spat, "that's no reason to say that it's my fault."

"Of course it's your fault," Heiji snapped, "everything's always entirely your fault."

He regretted it instantly as Kazuha's eyes widened and began to water.

He groaned. "Kazu -"

But she'd already turned away and begun storming off. "Fine, then!" she shrieked, "if it's all my fault, then I'll leave!"

Heiji watched her retreating back as he sunk into a chair. "Girls," he muttered, glaring at the sea.

/-/

Heiji was currently on his way, hunting down a certain ponytailed girl on the ship. He was still feeling just slightly queasy, and often had to grab at the walls in order to keep his balance.

"Ugh," he murmured, crossly. His father had heard them arguing - and honestly, who on board the ship **hadn't**? - and had sent him looking for the missing young girl, "and don't you dare come back unless she's with you, Hattori Heiji!" his mother had added. Gosh. Kazuha brought him nothing but trouble! Sometimes, he wondered why in the world he was even friends with her in the first place..

_'cause she can be really nice, sometimes. If you don't do something stupid to piss her off._

And his subconscious wouldn't even leave him alone today. Wonderful.

"She's such an overreactive - gah." Heiji'd nearly crashed into someone. "Sorry," he murmured, absently.

"Oh, so now you decide to apologize?"

Heiji's eyes widened. "Kazuha!"

"What?" she said, crossly. He didn't really know how to reply to that, so he said nothing at all. She rolled her eyes at him and strode out further to the edge of the ship, spreading her arms out wide.

"I was... looking for you," he replied, lamely.

She turned to face him at the point, quirking her eyebrows. "Don't tell me you were worried about me."

"Of course not!" he denied, loudly. "My parents made me.."

She snorted. "Figured as much." And then some sort of expression crossed her face - disappointment? Heiji frowned. Why would she be disappointed..?

"You should be grateful I did so!" he barked at her, "I was seasick enough, you know, without having to go all around the ship searching for you!"

She turned again, and he felt relieved - seeing only her back was making him a bit nervous. "Then you shouldn't have looked for me, stupid."

"Moron!" he yelled, and was glad for it, that they were slipping back into their comfortable old routine.

A small smile crossed her face - which Heiji understood to mean that he was forgiven. He replied with a small grin of his own, and then she held out her hand.

"Come on," she urged him. "They say that if you inhale the ocean air, take a few deep breaths, it'll cure that seasickness right away. Listen - even the sound of them is soothing!"

"I'm inhaling fine where I am," he told her.

"Oh, come **on**, Heiji!" She took him by surprise when she suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

The boat then chose this particular moment to encounter some harsh waves.

Sending the boat rocking violently.

Kazuha let out a surprised yelp and fell forward.

Precisely on top of Heiji.

_Oh, crap - crap - crap - crap - crap -_

It was bad enough that she was completely on top of him, but what really, really sent his heart pounding was the pair of lips pressed against his cheek.

_CRAP - CRAP - CRAP - CRAP - CRAP_

She pushed herself off him quickly, red staining her cheeks. Heiji was sure that he looked exactly the same. He cleared his throat and looked around at anything except for her.

"Let's go back," he said, brusquely, and for once Kazuha followed him without argument.

Looking back on it, Heiji thought, he was really glad that she'd only kissed his cheeks, and not his lips.

...or was he?

- fin -

Random Notes: xD Just a bunch of pointless fluff. xD


	3. If Only

**Title: **If Only..**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #6: the space between dream and reality  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

Sometimes, at night, she would dream. She would dream of him, and of her. Her feelings, unable to reach him. His feelings, unsure and uncertain.

Often enough, they were happy dreams, the sort of dreams that she would love to be reality. The sort of dreams... The sort of dreams that she knew would never come true. The sort of dreams that would strictly remain as dreams, and nothing more.

In these dreams, he would take her by the hand, lead her to the rooftop of a tall building, and gaze at her underneath the unflickering stars above them. There was always a moon, a bright, shining full moon, smiling down gently at the two of them. He would caress her hair and look at her - not just look, but really, truly, _look_ at her - as... as more than just a childhood friend. As more than just an older-sister-figure. He would look at her in the way she would want him to, and had always wanted him to.

And then he would cup her face in his hands, tilt her head back, and kiss her passionately.

Then she would wake up, and realize that it wasn't real. It never was. It never could be.

In the daytime, everything went on just as it should, the two of them walking to school together, squabbling over the pettiest little things. They went to their classes, took notes, ate lunch, and went back home. Just as friends. They would never be anything more.

So when one day, after school, he stopped, dead in his tracks, and she found herself crashing into his wide, broad back, she froze, unbelieving, staring at the expression on his face, reflected in his eyes.

She could only stand there, numbly gazing up at him.

She didn't move as he lowered his face to hers. She didn't move as he pressed his lips gently against hers.

It wasn't a dream, but it wasn't real, either; it _couldn't_ be..

She didn't care anymore.

She closed her eyes and kissed him back.

- fin -

Random Notes: o.o Yeah. What was _that_? I'm not quite sure myself, haha. Though I like it, so here it goes! xD Think of at as too much Kai/Ao angsting, neh, Lyn-chan? (smiles) It's awfully short, and I'm sorry about that, but I felt that if I dragged it on any longer it'd just be pointless. Lookie, though! No dialogue whatsoever! o.o

Thanks a bunch of to _chibi-Nao_, who gave me a good place to stick my random Detective Conan music videos. The links are as follows, if you feel like taking a look.. (grins)

www. archive. org/ download/ I-Do-1 /ido. wmv (this is the video that inspired "Accidental Kiss")

www. archive. org/ download/ Highway-to-Hell/ highway0002. wmv (random Kaitou KID video)

www. archive. org/ download/ From-my-Head-to-my-Heart/ hk0002.wmv (yet another Heiji/Kazuha video! Teehee..)

Needless to say, you'll have to get rid of the spaces in the links.. then copy 'em onto your Internet browser-address-thingy. Yep. _Note! Wherever you see a DASH_, replace it with an _UNDERSCORE_. Blame the formatting-thingy. (sighs)


	4. My Favorite Things

**Title: **My Favorite Things**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #10: #10  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

"Heiji? _Heiji_!"

Heiji jerked out of his thoughts - a particular murder that he'd just solved - and glanced down at the ponytailed girl beside him. "What is it?" he asked, boredly.

"You were gazing out into space, as always." Kazuha huffed and crossed her arms over her chest impatiently. "Thinking about another murder case?"

Heiji flushed at being so predictable. "What's it to you?" he spat out.

Kazuha rolled her eyes. "Because I've been talking to you over the past five minutes about our science homework. Aho."

"You're the aho," Heiji shot back, absentmindedly. Trading insults with her was just second nature by now.

"Oh, yeah!" Heiji narrowed his eyes as Kazuha suddenly paused in the middle of the sidewalk and began rummaging in her bag. His keen eyes took in the slight pink flush over her cheeks. He suddenly had a bad feeling about this... "All the girls in the school are doing this.."

"Since when you have you been 'one of the girls'?" Heiji raised an eyebrow at her. It was true. Kazuha never really hung around with the other girls in the school, mostly choosing to stalk _him_.

She ignored him and took out a magazine. "See this?" She opened up to a dog-eared page and shoved the magazine right in his face.

He shot her an exasperated look before taking the magazine and reading over the page. _"The Top Ten Things You Like About Each Other."_ He shot her another Look. "This is for couples, aho."

"I know that!" Her cheeks went redder. "I just figured - we're friends, aren't we? And we have been, ever since we were little, right? I was curious!"

"This is stupid," he said, flinging the magazine back at her.

"Aho!" she yelled, flicking his forehead. It seemed like she'd gotten an idea, though, because she fumbled around her bag for a pen and then wrote something on the page, and then threw it at him. It hit him squarely in the face, and he gave her a sour glare for it.

He glanced down at it. She had modified the title to, _"The Top Ten Things You **DON'T** Like About Each Other."_

She threw him a challenging glare. "What about now?"

He smirked. "Oh, now I'm game." He took the pen from her, sat down, right smack-dab in the middle of the sidewalk, and began to fill in the lines.

Kazuha leaned back against the wall, waiting. She figured that this probably wouldn't take very long.

She was right. Barely five minutes later, he exclaimed, triumphantly, "Done!" He turned the page, where another set of lines filled the page. He handed it to her. "Your turn."

She took the pen back from him. "You're having more fun than I would've thought," she remarked, and he muttered some sort of insult under his breath. She tapped the pen against her chin as she thought. There's one, she thought, filling in the first line. Some minutes later, she had finished her list.

"Let me see," Heiji demanded, holding his hand out for the magazine.

"Of course, your Highness," she replied, sarcastically, and handed over the magazine.

Her list was as follows:

_10: His voice is so annoying. He's always yelling at me and going, "AHO!"_

Heiji glared at her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

_9: He's always wearing his cap. What's up with him? Is it like his security blanket or something? When he was little, he had this fuzzy yellow security blanket with little stars on it that he always took with him wherever he went -_

Heiji flushed. "AHO!"

Kazuha smirked.

_8: He is _such_ a mystery geek. Every second of the day, if he's not talking about some random Ellery Queen novel, he's scouring the newspapers for any news of a murder, or talking about some case that he just solved._

Heiji was beginning to wish that he hadn't agreed to this in the first place.

_7: He's a magnet for accidents! I swear, it's the only thing he's better at than solving mysteries! He's gotten shot, he's fallen off a boat, he's fallen off his motorcycle, he's _almost_ fallen off a cliff -_

Heiji slowly turned to face her. "I'm a magnet for accidents?"

Kazuha shrugged. "It's true."

_6: He's so stubborn! I'm always warning him to be more careful, and just goes, "Hn." If he listened to me more, I'm sure that he wouldn't get hurt so much!_

Heiji snorted. "I doubt it."

5_: He's completely _in love_ with his motorcycle. He's always cleaning it! Making it all shiny! He pays more attention to to it than he does to me! _

Heiji muttered something under his breath. "Who would want to pay attention to you?"

Kazuha glared. "What was that?"

_4: He eats. A lot. He could clean out an entire buffet! Which he has, by the way. _

Heiji turned crimson. "Have not!"

"Have too."

"...shut up."

_3: He's so quick to lose his temper! It's like, one minute, he's completely fine and normal. Well, as normal as he can get, anyway. And then the next, he's just blowing up at me! He's got that Evil-Demon-Head-of-Doom thing, too. Which is just really creepy. Talk about mood swings.._

Heiji glowered at her. "I don't lose my temper that quickly!"

Kazuha shot him a Look. "Uh, yes you do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

The Evil-Demon-Head-of-Doom surfaced. "AHO! NO, I DON'T!"

Kazuha smirked.

Heiji flushed. "Shut up."

_2: He's got _such_ an inferiority complex! GAH! Can't he just admit that Kudo-kun is _better_ than him and get on with his life?_

Heiji narrowed his eyes and faced her with his trademark Pissed-Off-Heiji-Look. "Kudo is _not_ better than me!" He trailed off, muttering. "At least I didn't get shrunken into a little kid.."

Kazuha tilted her head. "What was that?"

Heiji realized his mistake. "...nothing. And Kudo's an idiot."

(In Tokyo, a glasses and bowtie-wearing boy sneezed.)

_1: He's just plain stupid. And clueless. It couldn't be any more obvious, but he's as thick as a rock._

Heiji glared. "Am not!"

Kazuha stared at him, with an angry and - if he looked hard enough, pained expression in her eyes. "You are," she said, "you are."

He frowned, and drew nearer. "What? Why?"

She closed her eyes briefly. "It's nothing."

He didn't believe her. "Kazu -"

"Come on, it's my turn!" She interrupted him, snatching the magazine from his hands. "Let me read what you wrote.."

He stared at her for awhile, and then let out a sigh. "Fine."

"Heiji, you aho!" She furrowed her brow. "You were supposed to go from ten to one, not from one to ten!"

"...you didn't say anything about that."

Kazuha exhaled and threw her hands up in the air. "Gah. Whatever. Let me just read it.."

_1: She follows me around everywhere! It's like having my own personal stalker!_

Kazuha's face had turned an interesting shade of red. "A - Aho!" she stammered. "You think I follow you around because I want to? It's because you're always getting hurt, and if I don't keep an eye on you, you'll _die_ one of these days!"

Heiji waved her off. "Yeah, yeah."

_2: She has this whiny, annoying voice. It's annoying enough when she's just talking to me, but when she starts blowing up at me, which she does just about every ten seconds, it really gets on my nerves. And then when she nags at me, too! I'm lucky I haven't blown an eardrum yet!_

Kazuha glowered at him. "What's that about my voice?"

Heiji grinned smugly. "Keep reading. There's more."

_3: She goes shopping. Constantly. She doesn't even have that much money! And the worst part of it all, is that she always has to drag _me_ along! Then she makes me carry all of the stuff that she buys!_

"I don't go shopping that much!" Kazuha protested. "And it's not like you've got anything better to do, anyway, you mystery freak! And need I mention, that half of the murder cases you've solved have been on those little shopping trips? There would be no Detective of the West if it wasn't for me!"

"..." he didn't say anything because he knew she was right.

A triumphant expression crossed the ponytailed girl's face.

_4: She pisses me off. Constantly._

"I could same the same for you!" Kazuha exploded, glaring daggers at the dark-skinned boy. "You think I piss you off? You've pissed me off more times than I can count! AHO!"

"Aho!" he yelled right back. "You're the one that's always on my case! Following me everywhere I go, nagging at me!"

The look Kazuha sent his way was chilling enough to make him shiver.

_5: She worries about me way too much. It's not like I'm going off to get myself killed or anything. I'm just going to solve some cases. It's like being a police officer, and I don't see her stalking her dad._

"Why, you!" Heiji instinctively took a step back. "You should be grateful that I even bother worrying about an idiot like you! You're not even worth my time! I don't know why I bother!"

"It's not that I don't _like_ you worrying about me!" He narrowed his eyes. "But you worry way too much! Always friggin _stalking_ me!"

"I don't stalk you!"

"Oh yeah? What do you call forcing yourself on my bike? What do you call handcuffing me to my door so that I won't leave without you? I'm really interested to know."

"...shut up."

_6: She always gets jealous when I meet a girl. Like when she met Neechan for the first time. She mistook her for Kudo! Nearly bit her ear off! What is it with her and other girls, anyway? Does she **like **me or something?_

Kazuha's face was flaming red. "Of course not! Who would like someone like you, anyway?"

Heiji shrugged. "It's true. Good thing I came when I did. Neechan looked terrified of you."

Kazuha simply _glared_.

_7: She always, always, ALWAYS_ _butts in when she shouldn't. Case in point: That time when we almost fell off the cliff. I'm sure that I would have been fine, but she had to go and get involved, and almost died _herself_! Her dad would've killed me.._

"You ungrateful -" Kazuha fumed, running out of insults to fling at him. "I saved your life that day! I don't even remember getting a 'thank you' from you for it, either!"

"Like I said," Heiji retorted, "I would have been perfectly fine by myself."

"Yes," Kazuha retorted, sharply, "if by 'perfectly fine' you mean _dead_."

"..." He still glared.

_8: She cries over everything. And I do mean, everything. Whenever I threaten to leave her behind, after screaming her head off at me, she'll turn on the waterworks. And - gah, she just cries all the time! And I hate it, because then she makes me feel like it's my fault! Which it's not. Of course not._

Heiji warily backed away. Kazuha _did_ take aikido, after all, and that itself was something to watch out for.

"So," she said, suspiciously, "you don't like it when I cry?"

"Of course not!" The words fell out of him.

And then she looked all _happy_ all of a sudden as she turned back to the list. He furrowed his brow and hesitantly stepped closer. Girls. Detective or not, he didn't think he'd ever be able to figure them out.

_9: She probably doesn't realize this, but she's always got guys **looking** at her. Which drives me absolutely crazy. They're always there, hanging around, looking, staring, and whispering. Once, this guy looked like he was about to walk over to her, to talk to her, I guess. ...I think he's probably out of the hospital by now._

Kazuha simply gaped at him.

"..what?" Why was she looking at him like that?

"I don't know what surprises me more," she said, still looking startled. "The fact that I've actually got guys looking at me, or that you sent one of them to the hospital."

"Well," he said, huffing and turning away. "It's not like you're bad-looking or anything."

Her jaw just about hit the ground. She placed a hand on his forehead. "Are you sick?"

"No!" The sensation of her hand on his skin sent his heart careening against his rib-cage, and he didn't understand why. Feh. Stupid heart.

Kazuha took her hand away from his head, and he frowned as she did so - only just stopping himself in time.

"All right," she said, going back to the magazine. "The last one.."

_10: And for some reason, despite all of this, I still **like **having her around. Which doesn't make any sense, because all she really does is drive me crazy. But I still couldn't imagine not having her around. That's another reason I don't like her - because she makes me feel this way. Then again, maybe I'm just a masochist.._

Heiji hung back awkwardly, watching her eyes widen as she read and reread the last statement.

The wind blew, kissing her soft, dark hair. He found himself watching her, even though he knew that he shouldn't. Her lips broke out into a smile, and her eyes lit up in ecstacy.

"I don't know about you," she said, grinning widely at him, "but I like number ten the best."

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and couldn't help but grin back. "Me, too."

- fin -

Random Notes: xD Yes, yes, if that wasn't a pile of pointless fluff, I don't know what was. But that's my specialty! (stands up proudly) Pointless, pointless fluff! Yes!

Just to let you know, school starts for me tomorrow. Yes. The educational system shall take over my life once again. Therefore, I won't be able to update as quickly as I have over the past couple of weeks. (sighs)

This one again goes out to my dear _Lyn Jarewo Wors-chan_. Hope you liked it! xD


	5. I Wish

**Title: **I Wish**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #5 - "ano sa" ("hey, you know...")  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

There were days when she didn't think she could make it. They were few and far in between, but when they _did_ happen, she felt awful, like a million knives piercing her through her chest.

He didn't realize it, of course, and she found this ironic. The famed Detective of the West, completely oblivious to his childhood friend's feelings. Didn't he notice how she'd blush and get tongue-tied whenever somebody mentioned "them" together? Probably not. He was too busy beating them over the head with his katana.

But - and this was the plain and simple truth - it _hurt_. So much, such unbearably excruciating pain. It hurt, darn it, to be so close to him, and yet, at the same time, so completely far away...

She fell asleep in class today, only during the last ten minutes or so. The teacher didn't notice, and she was rudely awoken by Heiji, with a half-exasperated, half-amused expression on his face.

"You never fall asleep in class, 'zuha," he stated, hanging around her as she went to her locker. "Tired?"

"...mm. Yeah." She avoided his eyes.

"I think," he began, narrowing his eyes and shifting so that she had no choice but to make eye contact, "that you've been staying up late studying again."

"It's not that," she murmured, and it was true.

He arched an eyebrow. "Aho. Keep this up and you might even get sick."

She tilted her head, and closed her eyes briefly - _looking_ at him even hurt, sometimes - "Are you worried about me?"

"A - Aho," he sputtered, and if Kazuha narrowed her eyes and squinted, really hard, she could see the smallest trace of pink on his dark face. Which made her more confused, and made her hurt, even more.

She remembered her classmates' words, Ran-chan's words, even Aoko-chan's words..

_It's so obvious that he likes you! You two are meant for each other!_

She glanced up at him - he was looking out the window, murmuring something about rain.

"Hey, you know..." She began, clearing her throat, swallowing.

He wrinkled his nose, noticing something behind her. She turned and saw two students older than them making out on the benches. She ripped her eyes away and focused back on him.

"Hey, you know.." she started, again.

He bent his head down in order to make perfect eye contact with her. Green eyes. Gorgeous, dreamy eyes. "Yeah?"

Kazuha swallowed and turned away. "Never mind. It's nothing."

- fin -


	6. Tadaima: I'm home

**Title:** "Tadaima" - I'm Home.

**Author: **fireblazie

**Pairing:** Heiji/Kazuha

**Fandom:** Detective Conan

**Theme:** #2: news; letter

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan.. or the song. xD

She remembers when he took her hand and held it - _really, truly, more than just a friend held it_. She doesn't remember the tiny details - she doesn't know if it was raining or sunny or cloudy or both. In her mind, she thinks that it might as well have been a combination of all sorts of weather, melded together into one fuzzy atmosphere.

She doesn't remember what she was wearing. She doesn't remember what he was wearing, either. But what she does remember, excruciatingly clearly, is the feel of his warm, slightly larger hand enveloping hers, and his piercing green eyes gazing into hers with an emotion she'd never seen there before.

The next words that fall out of his mouth she remembers with startling clarity. And it hurts, because she doesn't want to remember. She doesn't want to remember when he left her..

_"I'll see you soon."_

_"I promise."_

Years have passed.

She hasn't heard a word from him since then.

/-/

She finds herself at Ran-chan's house more often than ever. At around the same time Heiji had left, Conan-kun had left, too, and with the disappearance of the two men, Ran-chan's already rare and precious phone calls from Kudo-kun had stopped, as well.

"If anything," Kazuha remembers herself saying, "it's their loss, isn't it? Not ours."

Ran-chan had forced a smile - a thin, painful smile, "Right. It's - it's their - their fault -"

The laughter had slowly turned into tears soon after.

/-/

The suitors had flocked to her, asking her out on dates. After getting over her initial shock that she actually had guys that liked her, she found herself declining each one with an apologetic smile. It was instinctive.

"It's Hattori, isn't it?" she recalls one of them asking, and she smiles silently in reply.

/-/

She keeps a picture of the two of them on her desk. It's one that was taken just a few months ago - taken by Ran-chan, no less - when they had gone to visit Tokyo.. It was a simple picture of the two of them, sitting together on the Mouris' couch, just lazing around and smiling. Kazuha was laughing at something Heiji had said, and Heiji was talking animatedly, a sparkle in his eye, one hand inching towards the bag of potato chips on the floor.

She misses those days.

Because, god, what she wouldn't give for another petty argument about his annoying cap, or how he was always in danger, or - or - or -

She even wishes that she could hear his deep, husky voice, calling her an aho, of all things..

Sometimes, she imagines that he'll walk in the door, face thinner and more angular, clothes torn and dirty, but with that same sheepish and arrogant grin - _"I told you I'd come back."_

She wishes and she prays.

They are never answered.

/-/

She cries herself to sleep at night. It's something that she tries to hide, and she succeeds. Her father is already at work by the time she wakes up, and she has time to clean her face and remove trace of the tears. Sometimes, she'll remember - Heiji always knew when she had been crying. It was that mystery geek side of him.. She recalls him saying something about the puffiness of her eyes, some strange, invisible hint she'd never even thought of..

...and realize that she loves him even more.

At first, she would call his cell phone every night, four times, five times, six times. She knows his number by heart and can press the numbers on the keypad without even looking.

There is never an answer. Nobody ever picks up. The phone keeps ringing, and ringing, and ringing. And she hangs up with a heavy heart.

/-/

It is raining.

Thunder booms in the sky, announcing Mother Nature's wrath, lightning creating jagged peaks against the dark gray clouds. She sits on a dark green bench outside the school building, a spot overlooking the grassy fields and trees behind the school. This is - no. It used to be... used to be their spot.

Now it is simply another bench filled with painful memories.

She shakes her head, droplets of rain clinging to her hair and face. She closes her eyes for a good part of a minute before pushing herself off the bench and beginning her walk home.

She stops to check the mail.

She pauses at a particular envelope - white, crisp, clean - with _unmistakable, familiar handwriting..._

Her heart skips a beat.

There is a wrinkled piece of white paper, ripped around the edges. His scrawl is messy and hastily written. Tears prickle her eyes and she finds that she is having difficulty breathing.

_"I'm coming home."_

She swallows.

_"So wait for me."_

/-/

And so she waits.

Where once a forced, sad smile claimed her lips, now a new one - one of undescribable, unerasable hope sits. Her thin, gaunt face is replaced with a fuller, happier one, and she finds herself sitting outside her house, just waiting, waiting, waiting..

He doesn't come, but she still waits, nonetheless. Because she knows that he's coming - she knows it. An unbreakable bond, connected by their one unique chain.

/-/

Months pass, and despite how much she tries to hold on, she realizes that her hope is slowly slipping away. Snow falls steadily from the sky, white crystals dotting the ground.

She wraps her jacket tighter around herself, imagining that it's not the material, but his arms encircling her, keeping her warm, never leaving her, always there...

She sits at the bench, their spot, the one they always occupied during lunch, before school, and after school. She remembers her fondest memories with him all took place here. She wonders if he remembers, as well.

She shifts herself so that she can lie down on the wooden surface. Her jeans absorb the wet snowflakes, and she closes her eyes, leaning her head against the back of the bench. Just a little bit, she thinks, just for a little while, give me some peace.

She lets out a sigh and dreams.

"Do you mind?" a voice calls out, amused and irritated all at once, "some people would like to sit down."

She raises her head -

_Oh, god._

_This can't be happening._

_Is it real - is it really, is this - I can't - _

"Oh, god," she breathes, and moves into a sitting position, raising herself up from the bench slowly, eyes meeting his, never letting go. Green. Still that same, beautiful green she remembered from long ago. "Is it - is it really... you?"

"...still an aho after all these years, what did I expect?"

She leaps off the bench and into his waiting arms. She buries her head into his chest, feeling his arms encircle her body. Warmth floods her, the kind of warmth she hadn't felt in a long time.

"You're freezing, 'zuha!" Just like that, they slip back into their old routine. Something else, however, something different and new and just _amazing_ surrounds them, and he tightens his grip on her, pulling her closer to him. She throws her arms around his neck and stands on her tiptoes, sobbing into his neck.

"I hate you," she mutters. "I hate you - I - I hate you - and I - _I hate you, Hattori Heiji_."

He only laughs in reply, and she is able to feel the rumble in his throat and chest. She trembles in his arms.

"I thought you were dead," she whispers, defeatedly. "You never called, and you never wrote, and I didn't know what had happened to you -"

"I'm here now, right?" His breath tickles her ear.

She pulls herself closer to him, if possible - her lips make contact with his neck, and she breathes in his scent, _cinnamon_.

"You're back," she says, and feels him hold her closer, as if trying to meld their bodies together. "You're back, you're back.."

He rests his chin on the top of her head. "Yeah. I'm home."

_You are the love of my life_

_And I'm so glad you found me_

_You are the love of my life_

_Baby, put your arms around me_

_I guess this is how it feels_

_When you finally find something real_

_My angel in the night, you are my love_

_The love of my life..._

- fin -

The song used at the end is called "Love of my Life".. and I know it was composed, or at least the piano was played by Jim Brickman, but I don't know who sings. Haha. Gorgeous song, though.

The small, almost invisible part about Heiji smelling like "cinnamon" was from Lyn "Jarewo" Wors-chan. xD Thanksh!

...and the angst just continues to take over. Ah, well. Leave a review, won't you?


	7. The Helmet

**Title: **The Helmet**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #12 - in a good mood  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

Her life sometimes really, really sucked, Kazuha reflected, as she stood in the middle of her garage. The garage door was open, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see her neighbor from across the street giving her odd looks. She defiantly ignored him, turning around to give him a good view of her back. She sighed and fingered with the end of her ponytail.

Stupid bike. Why on earth had she decided to hang it up in the middle of the garage ceiling, anyway?

"What am I supposed to do now?" She let out another loud, exasperated sigh. She'd tried every thing she could think of, and she couldn't get the stupid bike down on the ground. Her father was still off at work. She was home alone.

She threw her hands up in frustration. Forget it. She wasn't going to waste any more time over this. She had homework, projects, other things to do... She made to close the garage voice when a voice stopped her.

"Oi! Kazuha!"

Her heart skipped a beat.

She carefully adjusted the expression on her face before turning around. "What is it?" Carefully painted on, an annoyed, yet still friendly look.

"Nothing," he replied, honestly. He stuffed his hands in his pockets before casually making his way up her driveway. He was grinning at her, and Kazuha swallowed, hard.

It should be illegal for him to smile like that.

"You doing anything this weekend?" There we go, nice, cool, casual.

He shook his head. "Nope. Couple of tests to study for. Not much. You?"

"Same." They were just _talking_, darn it, why was she getting so flustered? She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. She forced herself to remain calm, even though on the inside she just wanted to run inside, sink into a cold bath, and forget about everything.

"So what were you doing?" he questioned, drawing closer. His shoulders brushed against hers. "You looked pissed."

"Honing your detective instincts, I see." She allowed a small grin to spread over her lips.

"Mm, that's part of it," he replied, shrugging, "but most of it is 'cause I know _you_."

Dear god, he should _not_ be allowed to say things like that.

"Yeah. Well." She was blushing now. Crap. "After knowing each other for at least ten years, I would think so too."

"Un." He jerked his head to the bike. "Is it because of that?"

Sometimes, she wanted to smack him silly for being so darn smart. And clueless, at the same time - but she would not go there, not today, not ever - "Yeah." She rolled her eyes to the heavens and pointed accusingly at the accursed bike. "I can't get it down. I'm too short."

A smirk crossed his lips as the dark-skinned teen tiptoed up and got a firm grasp on the bike. Kazuha stared at him. When he tiptoed up, his shirt rode up, just ever so slightly, and she got the smallest, faintest peek at his abdomen, and saw the way his muscles stretched through his shirt, and _wow_.

She blinked as he settled her bike down on the floor, and gestured for her to come. "Here you go," he said. Kazuha flashed him a short, grateful smile before walking towards him. Her arm brushed against his in the process. Her skin burned with the contact.

"Put on your helmet."

She eyed him. "What?"

"Your helmet. You deaf or what?" He handed her her red helmet. When had he gotten a hold of it? She dumbly accepted it.

"What for? I never wear a helmet."

"Clumsy as you are, you should."

"I don't get hurt as much as _you_ do."

"Put on the helmet."

"Why should I?" Arguing with him was second nature, even if she knew that he was right.

He stepped closer.

She moved back.

Still he moved towards her, closing the distance between them.

She continued to step back, back, back - until her back hit the wall, making a solid _thump_. She was trapped. He was close to her, much too close, leaning down, inches apart and she was red and she couldn't stop blinking and her heart was going a hundred and ninety miles per hour, _ba bump, ba bump, ba bump_, and he was so close to her and -

Then she felt his hands on her skin.

Oh, _god_.

They were roaming her face. Her cheeks. Her chin. Her neck - god, her _neck_ -

And then he pulled away.

That was when she noticed it - the helmet. It was strapped tightly under her chin, a slight weight resting on her head. He... That was all he... he...

"Aho," she muttered.

"Hang on. It's loose." And he reached out for her again, but she intercepted him, throwing him an irritated glare. She reached up to adjust the straps.

"I can do it myself," she snapped. "I'm not a baby."

His hands lingered on hers.

Dark against white.

Cinnamon against vanilla.

His fingers somehow found hers, and then they were entwined. Like two lovers in a desperate, passionate embrace. She didn't want to let go. She didn't want it to stop.

God -

She wanted to _kiss_ him.

"I have to go," he muttered.

She started. "What? But _why_?"

He smirked. "Because if I don't leave _now_, I never will."

Her heart fluttered at the words. "Hei -"

"Don't worry, I'll be back." He tapped her helmet, and just when she was getting ready to glare at him, he leaned down and brushed his lips against her cheek. It felt like her skin was on fire. "Just wait for me, hm?"

He was already down the driveway by the time she regained her senses.

"Always, you aho," she murmured, watching him leave.

- fin -

(points at Lyn Jarewo Wors-chan) This was entirely _your_ doing! xD The whole cinnamon/vanilla, heck, the entire _scene_ - lol, I swear, I would be eternally lost without you!

Wow. I wrote this entire thing in one night. Go me. xD Gotta love those study hall periods, hrm? (stalks off to stab at her med homework)

Leave a review, won't you?


	8. Ramblings

So I told myself, today is the day I shall work on IBE. Didn't happen. xD (squee, no school until Wednesday!)

**Title: **Ramblings**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #26 - if only I could make you mine  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

He doesn't remember when it started. This feeling, flooding his chest. Coming in and going out in a flash of lightning. Leaving him breathless. Strangling him. Taking over him. Making him do all these things that he knows he shouldn't - but does, anyway. It suffocates him, in a wonderfully twisted way.

He doesn't understand. And he doesn't understand _why_ he doesn't understand. His intellect is something he greatly prides himself on, something that hsa earned him the renowned title of "Detective of the West."

All he knows, all that his heart has revealed to him - is that _she_ is the cause.

The wind whizzes past his ear, a shiver traveling down his spine. He closes his eyes, wrinkles his nose, inhales - and sneezes.

"Are you getting sick?" Her concerned voice pricks his ears and he snorts at her. Her bright green eyes haunt him. He swallows.

"I'm fine." He swats at her. "Always overreacting, worrying about everything."

"If you would take care of yourself, I wouldn't have to worry," she snaps at him.

He rolls his eyes. "I never asked you to worry about me." Inside, _I like it when you worry about me._

She huffs, crossing her arms over her chest. When she sighs, her breath comes out in small puffs of mist. He watches it fade away, like their small argument, into the air. She starts to walk towards the school. He follows.

This is their ritual. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

-.-

They sit together at lunch, like they always do. Their spot is on the green bench beside the soccer field. It's an isolated spot, one Heiji had picked to get away from the endless teasing they attracted from their other classmates.

"Your sandwich looks good," he idly comments, glancing at the ponytailed girl's lunch - the meat, tomato, cheese, and lettuce in her sandwich.

"Really?" Kazuha inspects it. "I made it."

Heiji gapes. "You can _cook_?"

She rolls her eyes. "It's a _sandwich_, aho. Not like there was much cooking involved. And I _can_ cook, for your information."

Heiji muses this - for some reason, the fact that she had actually _made_ her lunch bothered him, in a way he couldn't explain. He wanted - he wanted to try it, wanted to sample some of her cooking. "Give me a bite," he says.

She blinks. "A bite?"

"Of your sandwich," he elaborates, jerking his head towards it.

"Oh. Yeah... sure." A layer of pink slides over her cheeks as she holds out the sandwich towards him. Against his better judgment, he meets her halfway, his hand reaching out to encircle her wrist. He feels her stiffen.

"Don't drop it," he warns her, liking the feel of her wrist in his hand a lot more than he should have. She scowls at him, "I won't," and he pulls her towards him, taking a large bite out of the sandwich.

His eyes land on hers as he moves away from her outstretched arm. His fingers, however, remain locked on her wrist. His eyes never leave hers.

"It tastes good," he tells her, a small and uncertain grin on his lips.

"Good," she replies, smiling back.

-.-

His eyes narrow instinctively as he sees a boy from their class lingering after school to talk to Kazuha. This isn't the first time, either. Heiji doesn't know his name, simply knows him as That Guy.

He shouldn't care, this he knows. But he does, and tilts his head at just the right angle to get an optimum view of the situation.

His eyes narrow further as That Guy places a hand on Kazuha's shoulder. He continues to watch, eagle-eyed.

He just about has a heart attack when That Guy reaches in and pulls Kazuha to him for a hug. He just about _dies_ when she returns the hug loosely, laughing as they pull apart.

The feeling worsens, taking over every inch of him. Why? What does this mean? He doesn't know, he doesn't know, he -

Oh.

Unless..

Unless he..

But - but it couldn't -

Oh, boy.

_Really_?

-.-

He refuses to acknowledge her presence on their way back home after school. This serves to infuriate her, and she stomps loudly, angrily down the sidewalk.

"What's wrong with you?" she demands.

"Nothing," he mutters.

She glowers at him, walking around so that they're looking directly at each other. "Heiji.."

"That guy," he spits out.

"What guy?" Apparently, she hadn't expected that answer.

"From after school," he mumbles.

"Machida-kun?" She blinks at him. "We go to aikido together. So what?"

"..." Heiji silently fumes.

"_What_?"

"...you hugged him.."

She gapes incredulously at him. "So? It was just a hug."

"You're not supposed to go around hugging other guys." Possessiveness creeps into his voice.

Kazuha frowns and furrows her brow, struggling to digest this information. "I - _what_?"

The words won't come out. They're stuck in his throat, hanging over the tip of his tongue. All he knows - and he doesn't even know _how_ he knows or _why_ it is he feels this way, only that he _does_...

If she were his...

_If you were mine... if you were, then..._

She's not allowed to hug other guys except for me, his heart tells him, and all he can do is obey.

"Why do you care who I hug?" Bitterness creeps into her voice as she turns away from him. He acts completely on instinct and grabs her by the elbow, pulling her to him in a tight embrace.

It all happens in a blur.

He lowers his head to hers and kisses her - hungrily, angrily, desperately. He pulls away to meet startled green eyes.

"That's why," he says.

- fin -

_For you, Lyn "Jarewo" Wors-chan! More of my weird, pointless fluff. xD_

Yeah, quick little edit 'cause I caught a typo. o.o Yeah, I'm safe and sound at home and the hurricane didn't affect our area too badly. Thank you muchlies to all of you! (I _swear_ that I _will_ work on IBE, though.. -coughs-)


	9. Raspberries

**Title: **Raspberries**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #23 - candy  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

Her lips were _killing_ him.

She had decided to buy some kind of weird, fancy lip-gloss... thing. Heiji wasn't quite sure, but on Monday morning, for some reason or other, she showed up at school with her lips all shiny and red and...

_Kissable._

He nearly shot himself for that thought.

And she, of course, was completely and utterly oblivious. Heiji, however, wasn't a famous teen detective for nothing. Oh, no. He clearly, _very very very clearly_, saw the stares that she attracted from the other guys. As can be expected, Heiji shot them all proper Evil-Heiji-Death-Glares-of-Doom, ensuring that they stayed far, far away. Which they did, and that was good, because Heiji really didn't feel like beating any of them to a mere inch of their lives and then having to make up a believable story on _why_ he'd had to do such a thing. Much too troublesome. He could do it, of course, oh-so-very-easily, but he didn't feel like it.

What _did_ he feel like doing, you might ask?

He felt like staring at her.

A lot.

Just for a couple of seconds, though, he thought to himself. Not like I _want_ to stare at her, but - I just kind of want to check out her lips. 'Cause - 'cause they're so friggin shiny they could outshine the _sun_ -

Well, that couple of seconds turned into more.

First, he found himself watching her for a minute or so.

And then five.

And then ten.

And then the entire period.

Crap, crap, crap! Heiji felt like taking the blunt end of his katana and smacking himself on the head with it. Hard. Though, he thought, if Kazuha ever saw him actually looking at her like that, she'd probably be more than happy to do that for him. Gah. He buried his face on the desk, flinching as his nose was squished flat, pressed against the cold wood.

So what? he thought to himself, cheeks flushed. So her lips are shiny. Big deal. It's just the stupid lip-gloss... thingy.

Why couldn't he look away?

He tried, god he did. He'd physically _turned his head away_ from her, which resulted in a nasty cracking sound. His nearby peers turned around to look at him, and he just plain glared at them, which was more than sufficient enough for them to turn back around and mind their own business. Kazuha, however - well, she had tilted her head to the side in that _really cute_ way of hers - at this point, Inner Romantic Heiji was being chased around by the Inner Violent Heiji, who was wielding a katana that was twice his size - and she was mouthing, "You okay?"

Inner Violent Heiji smacked Inner Romantic Heiji squarely on the head.

"Yeah," he muttered, waving her off.

Inner Romantic Heiji got up weakly and murmured something about cherries and vanilla and lips and _tongues_.

Inner Violent Heiji raised his katana -

- blushed rapidly at the images flooding his brain -

- and died -

Heiji groaned and died with him.

-.-

At the end of the day, he found himself agreeing to go over to her house. Her invitation for free food had basically captured the attention of Inner Greedy Heiji and before he knew it he was following her down the sidewalk, watching her ponytail bounce up and down as she walked.

"Heiji?" She turned her head slightly, meeting his gaze before looking back ahead of her, "what was up with you in class today?"

Heiji tripped.

He barely caught himself, with Inner Violent Heiji muttering not-so-nice things in his head.

"Wha - What do you mean?"

Kazuha eyed him strangely. "Well, you kept looking at -"

Inner Worrywart Heiji cringed - _please don't say "me", please don't say "me" -_

" - something," Kazuha finished, still eyeing him oddly. "And you looked like you were in pain. It was creepy."

**_You're _**_creepy_, Inner Violent Heiji retorted.

"I wasn't looking at anything," Heiji denied it, like _hell_ he'd ever tell her he was looking at her _lips_..

Kazuha twitched. "You were staring at something. Shuiichi-kun told me that you were looking at _me_, but that can't be right - " Red splotches colored her cheeks. Inner Violent Heiji narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on his katana.

Inner Romantic Heiji got a hold of his tongue and by god, he would _not_ let go, no matter how much Inner Violent Heiji beat him. "Why wouldn't that be right?" Heiji's eyes widened as the words escaped him.

Kazuha blinked, obviously flustered. "Well - I mean - "

Inner Violent Heiji: _smacksmacksmacksmacksmacksmack!_

God, Inner Romantic Heiji had a tougher skull than Inner Violent Heiji had given him credit for. I.R.H. just barreled right on, despite the fact that there was a slightly(?) insane copy of him currently trying to crack his skull open - "Anyway, your lips are all shiny 'cause of...what is it, some kind of new lip gloss or something?"

Kazuha blinked at him, rapidly. Then she muttered something along the lines of, "...so he noticed."

Inner Jealous Heiji took over for Inner Romantic Heiji. Inner Violent Heiji then proceeded to beat the crap out of Inner Romantic Heiji. "Well, who _didn't_ notice? All the guys were friggin _looking _at you the entire day!"

"..." Kazuha _stared._

Heiji finally regained control of his own mouth, making Inner Violent Heiji grow three feet taller and effectively stomping Inner Jealous _and_ Romantic Heiji with one foot. "...not that I care or anything," he quickly mumbled, finding the sidewalk extremely interesting now. "...if they want to look at you, then _fine_..."

Inner Jealous Heiji raised his head weakly from underneath Inner Violent Heiji - "But _I'm_ the only one who should get to look at you!"

Inner Violent Heiji deflated.

Kazuha gaped.

Inner Romantic Heiji cheered.

Heiji wished he had a gun.

"What?" Kazuha said, weakly. Heiji noticed that she looked like she might faint, and even though his mind was screaming at him to stay away from stay away from her stay away from her she's the reason you're feeling this way so go away go away run run run - he moved closer to her, in case she _did _faint..

"I..." And that was all he could say. This wasn't Inner Violent Heiji; this wasn't Inner Romantic Heiji; this wasn't even Inner Timid Heiji - this was all of his inner selves, melded into one. This was Heiji - Heiji. "I don't know.." he finally said, not quite looking at her, not just yet.

"What do you mean?" she pressed on, all sorts of different emotions sparkling in her eyes. " - you... what..." She shook her head violently.

Heiji felt the frustration building up inside of him. Why? Why couldn't he explain it? "It's - it's your lip gloss!" he finally burst out, savagely.

She furrowed her brow. "My - what?"

"Your stupid lip gloss!" he repeated, emotions pouring out of him even as he struggled to keep them in check. "Because - because it looks really good on you, _okay_? It makes your lips all - all shiny-looking, and... and god, 'zuha, you looked good enough before, but now that - now that you've got that stuff on, you look - you look _better_ - and - and you wanna know what the hell I was looking at in class? I was looking at _you_, you and - you and your goddamned lips -"

Kazuha was just staring at him.

" - and - and - " He kept looking at her, blood pumping in his ears, adrenaline rushing madly through him. "Just - just - _come here already, will you?_" And stepped closer to her, pulling her to him roughly. She started, but there was no fear in her face, something he was grateful for, even in the heat of the moment. He hesitated for the tiniest of moments, eyes roaming her face, swallowing, "Don't - don't hit me for this," he warned her, and as she opened her mouth to ask him _what_, he'd already pressed his lips against hers and was kissing her.

He hadn't realized how much he'd wanted this until now.

He pulled away, and she touched her lips, still not saying a word.

"It tastes like raspberry candy," he said.

She nodded. "...'cause I know you like raspberries.."

"Ah."

Awkward silence.

It didn't last long, because Inner Possessive and Inner Romantic Heiji joined forces and before he knew it, Heiji was kissing her again.

Not that he minded.

- fin -

(giggles at the end) Oh, man. I don't know where this came from. Well, actually - I do have this raspberry lip gloss stuff and I like it 'cause it's SHINY and I like SHINY things.. (stares) uh.. and yeah, in the mirror, putting lip gloss on, and then this bunny just JUMPS me from out of nowhere. xD I actually like it though. More of my weird, pointless fluff. There should be a slogan - fireblazie-chan, the queen of weird pointless fluff! Mwahaha..


	10. Heiji's Mouth Gets the Better of Him

**Title: **When Heiji's Mouth Gets the Better of Him...**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #11 - gardenia  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

Heiji came to the conclusion that Somebody Up There really didn't like him today - either that, or Somebody Up There was way too bored and had _way_ too much free time on his hands - when the following words fell out of his mouth:

"It's 'cause I _love_ you, you _moron_!"

Kazuha _gaped_.

-.-

Later on, they would look back on this incident and Heiji would blame it entirely on Kazuha. Kazuha, would, of course, deny the accusation - loudly _and_ violently; there's our talented multi-tasking girl! - and smack him on the head. He'd yell back, but wouldn't physically hurt her, except for maybe a light flick on the forehead. They'd exchange insults, and somehow, some way, they'd end up draped over each other on the couch in a way that would make Kazuha's father bring in the shotgun.

But that would be much later on.

For now, they were still two teenagers, crazy, confused, and in love, the most dangerous emotion to feel in the world.

-.-

It had started off something like this:

"Aho."

"Shut up."

_Thwack._

And then went on to this:

"Stupid! That's now how you solve that equation!"

Rustling sounds, somebody grabbing a pencil out of someone's hands, scribbling on a piece of paper.

Triumph. "See? Check the answer in the back of the book. Matches up, doesn't it? Hm? Huh? Right?"

A heated glare and a swing of a ponytail. "Be quiet."

Then came fourth period:

"You dork, you're not supposed to shade it in like that; the teacher told us that the light was supposed to come in from _here_ -"

"No, she didn't!" Defiance, peeking out through jade green eyes from dark skin.

"Yes, she did!"

"No, she _didn't_!" Gritted teeth.

"Why don't we ask her, then?" A challenge, hands on hips.

So they did.

"Kazuha-san is correct," the teacher said. Kazuha stuck her tongue out at him and Heiji proceeded to erase his drawing, sulking.

After that came lunch:

"Give me some of that."

Glare. "Why? Don't you have any of your own?"

"Yeah, but that actually looks good."

"I made it." A slight flush across pale cheeks; a proud grin.

"...then again, looks aren't everything."

A beat of silence.

And then -

_Whack._

"AHO!"

Heiji sat there, dumbfounded, as grains of rice stuck to his hair. Along with some pieces of beef, as well. He caught a glimpse of the tail end of her ponytail and was mauled by the entire female population of their class.

"Hattori-kun!"

"What happened, what happened?"

"Another fight?"

"But she's never actually _stormed off_ before -"

"Did you guys break up?"

Heiji flared up. "We weren't going out, stupid!"

A boy spoke up, from the back of the crowd: "So you won't mind if I ask her out, then?"

Heiji narrowed his eyes. The boy went on, oblivious. "After all, she's got a nice pair of -"

_Wham_.

-.-

The school nurse blinked, dazedly, at the unconscious, light brown-haired boy on the floor. She glanced up uncertainly at Heiji, a "Do-I-really-want-to-know?" expression on her face. Heiji replied with a deadpan "No-you-don't" expression.

The nurse sighed. "What happened?"

"He tripped," Heiji replied, delicately.

-.-

Things seemed to go downhill when he finally caught up to her at her locker.

"Are you mad at me?" he demanded.

Kazuha sniffed. "No. Why should I be?" Turned around, back facing him directly.

"..." Heiji stared. Girls. So confusing.

"I'm going home." Walked off, backpack slung over her shoulder. Without so much as a second glance. A series of different emotions sprung up within Heiji:

1. _Why isn't she walking home with me? We ALWAYS walk together, darn it!_

2. _Dear god, there is something wrong with that girl. She PMS-es every - friggin - day!_

3. _I hate her._

4. _...so why do I feel bad?_

-.-

He found himself calling Kudo.

After explaining his predicament, stone-cold silence greeted him on the other line. Heiji waited with bated breath for Kudo to bless him with his "insight into matters of the heart."

More silence.

And more.

Aaannnd more.

Then -

"Hattori?"

Heiji had been nodding off, but quickly jerked up. "Yeah?"

"...you're an idiot."

-.-

Heiji wasn't an idiot. He didn't think he was. He couldn't be! How else could he be such a brilliant teen detective? He wasn't known as the Detective of the West for nothing!

"It's all her fault," he muttered, bitterly. "It always is, because whenever _she's_ involved nothing makes sense, and everything goes all crazy and everything gets all screwed up! All 'cause of her, 'cause I have to _watch_ her all the time and make sure nothing happens to her..." He trailed off, collapsing heavily against his bed, "...'cause if something ever _did_ happen to her - well... her dad would kill me, and then my dad would kill me... and..." Sudden images of her, injured in various ways - from being shot to a small cut that would leave a scar - flooded his brain and he clenched his hands into fists.

_"I don't know if I would be able to live with myself if she ever got hurt."_

Because.. because...

"Because I don't want her to get hurt, because if she did - it would mean that I didn't do my job right..."

_Job?_ Wait a minute, what job?

"Well," Heiji thought to himself, letting out an exasperated sigh, "isn't it that it's your job to protect the people you love?"

The words echoed in his room, in his head.

_...love?_

Heiji blinked rapidly.

Oh, no, he thought, his mind falling apart within seconds, oh no, no, no, no, no, _NO_.

-.-

Yes.

The more Heiji thought about it, the more it made sense. Perfect sense, really. They'd known each other for just about forever, and...

Kudo wouldn't stop laughing after Heiji told him about it.

Heiji threatened to start a conversation with Neechan that began with, "Hey, did you ever notice that Kudo and Conan-kun _really, really look alike?_"

Kudo had sobered up after that.

And what really got him going was that - was that he thought that.. well, maybe, he'd _always_ loved her, from the moment he saw her, from the moment he caught a glimpse of her under the cherry blossoms, from the moment she'd first punched him, from the moment she first called him an aho.

His heart had known. It always had. It had just taken a little extra time for his brain to catch up, that was all.

He met up with her that morning, en route to school. A dark expression flickered over her face when she saw him, but Heiji wasn't disheartened. He fell into step beside her, the faint scent of the gardenia blossoms from the school garden permeating the air.

"You still mad?"

Kazuha narrowed her eyes.

"...sorry, then.." Heiji muttered.

Kazuha huffed. "Aho." But at least she was talking.

-.-

And somehow, everything went straight down to hell by fifth period.

"What do you _mean_ you have to leave for another case?" Kazuha hissed, glaring daggers at him.

Heiji twitched. "Not until this weekend!"

"But it's going to take you the entire weekend? It usually only takes you - well - only a couple of hours, at the most!"

Heiji rolled his eyes to the heavens. "This one's going to be a tough one," he muttered back, out of the corner of his mouth, "but I'll be back Sunday afternoon! Don't make such a big deal..."

Kazuha opened her mouth to argue when the bell rang. Heiji quickly gathered up his things and tried to escape her temper.

He failed.

"What do you _mean_?" Her voice had increased in volume now that they were out in the yard. "An entire weekend? I'm coming with you!"

"No, you're not," he hissed back, struggling to keep his temper in check. Like _hell_ he was going to let her tag along when he and Kudo tried to track down the Black Organization. "Quit worrying! I'll leave Friday after school and be back Sunday afternoon. What, you want to see a movie when I get back? Fine!"

Kazuha raised her hands to the heavens before replacing them back on her hips. "Why can't I go?" she demanded, shrilly, stepping closer to him. Daring him. Challenging him.

And he snapped.

"It's because I _love_ you, you _moron_!"

-.-

_"My favorite flower? Well, I like cherry blossoms. They're pretty," a young, eight-year-old Kazuha told him, tapping her chin. "Oh, but you know what I like too? Gardenias." She pronounced the word carefully, and lit up when she said it correctly. "My mom said that it means 'a secret love'."_

_Heiji wrinkled his nose. "So?"_

_Kazuha sighed. "Boys..."_

-.-

"I'm just kidding."

Kazuha blinked, shaking her head. "...what?"

Heiji bit his lip and resisted the urge to flail his arms. "I'm just kidding! I'm kidding, kidding!"

She closed her eyes, and he watched as about a million different facial expressions flittered across her face, her expressive green eyes. She settled on one mask and kept it on, firmly.

"I see."

She walked away from him, and every step she took, Heiji felt something break inside him.

-.-

That night, he decided that he was going to settle this, once and for all. It was a "do-it-or-die" kind of a thing. He was going to take that dangerous jump off the cliff. And if he fell, so be it.

He came armed and ready, a small bouquet of gardenias clutched tightly in his left hand. He struggled to loosen his grip; what good would it do if he broke the stems in half? He padded up uncertainly to her front door - and rang the doorbell. Once, then twice.

She came to the door, clad in dark green pajama pants and a light green t-shirt. Her hair was down and tousled - it was easy to see that she'd simply been lounging around.. but the sight of her still sent his heart pounding.

Her eyebrows drew together as she saw him. "Hei..ji?"

He blinked - at a complete loss for what to do, he thrust the bouquet at her.

She reached up uncertainly to accept it. "Uh.."

"I wasn't kidding," he said, hurriedly, "about this morning? Yeah. I - I meant it. Seriously. I wasn't kidding. I should've - I guess I should've told you a lot sooner, but I didn't figure it out until a couple of nights ago, and then I didn't know how to tell you, and then it just kind of... it just kind of came out, and... I _wasn't_ kidding, okay? I meant it. Really." He examined her face for any kind of reaction.

Her face went through all sorts of different expressions before a smile broke out over her face. Heiji regretted that he hadn't been able to make her smile like that before. The moon was coming out, its silvery light falling upon them and kissing her skin, her hair, making her even more ethereal to behold.

"So you meant it?" she said.

"...yeah." He was so uncertain, so unsure now. She still hadn't said anything..

Her smile grew wider, and she pressed her nose into the flowers. "You remembered," she said.

He returned the smile, hope flowing in him. "Of course I did."

She tilted her head to the side. "Well? No hug? No kiss?" A slight blush on her face, which he found even more endearing. He stepped closer to her, enveloped her in his arms, and tucked her head underneath his chin. They fit so, so perfectly.

They always had, after all.

-.-

"It was still entirely your fault," Heiji liked to tell her, many months having passed since then.

Kazuha would snort. "You're the one who went - 'I was just kidding. I was just kidding!' Aho."

Heiji growled. "But I remembered the gardenias. That ought to count for something."

Kazuha smiled fondly at him. "Yeah, I guess it does."

"Your cooking could still use some work, though."

Kazuha glared and stood up from her position on the couch. "I _dare_ you to say that again -" when strong, lean arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back down, falling face-down against a hard chest.

"I said," he said, grinning cheekily at her, "that your cooking could use some work."

Kazuha turned red. She hated it when he used that tactic against her. "Cheater," she complained, against his chest.

Heiji chuckled. "Yeah. Well, you still love me anyway."

Kazuha rolled her eyes. "You watch, one of these days, I'll leave you and then you'll feel bad about saying all those things about me.."

His arm tightened around her and his husky voice murmured, sending shivers down her spine - "And what makes you think I'd _let_ you leave?"

Kazuha shifted to look at him. He was smiling, but he wasn't joking. She relaxed once more.

"You don't - " Uncertainty crept into his voice. "You don't - _want_... to leave... do you?"

Kazuha smiled against his chest and her hand sought his. "Wouldn't dream of it."

- fin -

Wrote this all in one night. Didn't bother reading over it. Eheh. I'll read over it tomorrow and edit it out and stick a revised chapter in, if it needs any editing. I went from funny-comedy to romantic-sappy. Ah, I don't know how I do it. xD

**For you, Lyn "Jarewo" Wors-chan!**


	11. Love is Like a Video Game

**Title: **Love is Like a Video Game**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #21 - violence; pillage/plunder; extortion  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit! I don't own the song, either!

Even from a very early age, Heiji considered himself pretty darn smart. He was always able to solve anything and everything the teacher shot at him; always got the top grades; always the one who knew it all.

Like just about every other teenage guy, Heiji went through a phase where he was obsessed with video games. As Kazuha had so aptly put it, "You love those games more than you love solving those murder mysteries of yours!"

Which certainly was _not_ true. Heiji, of course, held his murders and mysteries as his highest priority.

But something had set off the balance of his already perfect (at least, in his eyes it was) world.

It had been _her_ fault (It always was, really).

So they were just lounging around, right? He was sitting barely six inches away from his TV screen, furiously pounding on the control. _Up, right, jump... no, you little idiot, JUMP! Gah! I died..._

On the screen, the village went up in flames.

Heiji mumbled bitterly under his breath.

"Heiji?" Heiji jerked out of his angry trance to see Kazuha, tapping her foot impatiently on his couch.

"Hang on," Heiji turned back to the screen. "Let me just beat this one level and then we'll go to - wherever it is you want to go.."

He heard the rustling of clothes behind him. He paid no mind to it. She was probably just getting a drink.

Then the door slammed shut.

Heiji winced. On the screen, a group of enemies from a neighboring town arrived to plunder the village. He swore, threw the control on the ground, and sprinted to the back door. "Oi! Kazuha!"

No answer.

He threw open the door and glanced around at his surroundings. Nothing. Absolutely no sign of her, whatsoever.

He furrowed his brow. Why was this bothering him so much? It shouldn't. It really shouldn't.

He stomped back inside the house. He grabbed the phone and dialed her cell phone number. He knew it by heart. Four rings, and Heiji was good and ready to leave her a nice, long, lengthy message on the voicemail, when she finally decided to pick up.

"About time!" Heiji growled.

_Click_.

Heiji lowered the phone numbly - and then glowered heatedly at the receiver. She did _not_ just hang up on him..

-.-

"Kazuha? OI! Aho! Pick up!"

_Beep._

Heiji was not about to give up. Oh no, not that easily. He dialed the number again and waited impatiently for the obligatory number of rings to go before the machine picked up.

"You friggin _aho_! What is your problem? I was almost done with the game; and then we could have gone out - or whatever the hell you wanted me to do! And will you PICK up the phone, already? DAMMIT! Kazu -"

_Beep_.

Heiji tightened his grip violently on the phone. Oh. He was _this_ close to throwing the phone out the window and - and just screaming his lungs out. God. That infuriating woman.

He dialed her number again.

The machine beeped; Heiji inhaled; and got ready.

"YOU FRIGGIN _IDIOT_! WILL YOU PICK UP THE GODDAMNED PHONE ALREADY BEFORE I -"

_"SHUT UP!"_

Heiji blinked, momentarily stunned. But he quickly got over his shock and opened his mouth - "Well, _you're_ the one who just stormed out of here -"

"Aho!" She screeched through the phone, and Heiji had to pull the receiver away from his ears to save his ear drums. "Go play with your stupid - with your stupid videogames! You obviously like spending more time with them than _me_, anyway!"

Heiji growled. "What are you -"

_Click_.

Heiji narrowed his eyes. She did not, she did _not_ just hang up on him _again_...

_Beep-beep-beep_. The unmistakable sound of the dial tone.

Heiji swore.

_Is it okay if I speak to you today?_

_You've been pissed off for a week now..._

Heiji was completely in her face the following morning. He sat on top of her desk and was fully aware of the heated glare she shot at him during her painfully slow walk from the door to the desk - it had killed lesser men, after all - and he continued talking to a fellow classmate, pretending to be oblivious.

She cleared her throat behind him.

He ignored her - "Yeah," he went on, talking to a black-haired boy with glasses he'd never spoken to in his life, "so then I just struck him in the shoulder and took home the kendo championship trophy."

She cleared her throat again.

Heiji talked louder, more animatedly, until she finally lost her patience and jabbed him harshly in the shoulder. He prepared a sickeningly sweet and innocent grin before turning to face her. "Yes?"

"You're in my desk," she said, stiffly.

Heiji glanced down. "Eh." He shrugged. "I'll get off before the bell rings. Don't worry."

Her tone lost the icy politeness it had held. "Get off. Now."

Heiji cocked his head to the side. "Oh, come -"

"Now."

He blinked, pretending to think about it for a second. And then he easily slid off the surface, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and watched as she slowly and deliberately took her seat, setting her bag down on the floor next to her.

"Hey."

She made a sound of acknowledgment but refused to look at him.

Heiji narrowed his eyes in thought. She was _really_ pissed at him, wasn't she?

"You're too emotional," he stated, rolling his eyes. "What's up with you?"

She huffed and turned away.

"Aho," he said.

She completely and totally ignored him. Which had a bigger effect on him than he would have liked to admit. But.. but this was different, all right? Usually, when they got into fights, nobody ever gave each other the _silent treatment._ They often fought at incredible volumes, but never cold shoulders and silent treatments. It was.. it was..

It was downright creepy, was what it was.

"Ka - zu -_ha_.."

Still, nothing.

The bell rang. Heiji shuffled slowly into his seat, the wheels in his head turning rapidly.

_But nothing I can say could make you look up_

_Or crack up_

He cornered her after school. Literally. He knew that she had to clean up the classroom after school, and long after everybody else had left, he loitered around the hallways. She was oblivious, and hummed a song under her breath. From his vantage point at the door, he could see that she'd rolled her sleeves up to her elbows and adjusted her ponytails.

His mind chose that moment to rearrange the scene.

An older Kazuha, hair tied back in a low ponytail. A green ribbon.

In the kitchen. Doing the dishes. Sunlight filtering in through the windows.

Two mini-Heijis running around her feet.

Heiji promptly fell over with a thud.

She froze inside, walking curiously over to the door. She clutched her broom behind her. Heiji winced.

"Who's there?" she called.

He decided he'd rather face her wrath than a heavy broomstick.

"Me!" he said, hastily getting to his feet. "You could poke an eye out with that thing.."

She struggled with her mask before pasting on a cold look of indifference. "What are you doing here?"

He cast around his mind for a good, solid excuse that wouldn't earn him a lump on the head. "Waiting for you." And it was the truth, wasn't it?

Her cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink - but then she closed her eyes and turned away. She swept up the floor. "Go away."

"What's wrong with you?" And his voice lost the edge it'd previously held, the one that had been on the brink of shouting and yelling. Now it was just plain, honest and pure curiousity. Confusion. "...what did I do?"

"If you don't know," she said, icily and yet - and yet waveringly at the same time... "Then you don't _deserve_ to know."

_Is there anything that I can do?_

_Anything to show you.._

So his rational mind decided to go back over all the stuff that had happened before she went all crazy and overemotional on him.

The video-game.

He blinked, staring blankly at the screen. He'd been playing the game again - he was _this_ close to beating it, darn it! - but then thoughts of her and that.. that _weird_ expression on her face kept distracting him.

Always because of her. Everything was entirely her fault. Everything.

She was such a pain.

He shut off the video-game - he was losing, anyway; his village had just been plundered and looted for the third time in a row and it was driving him mad - and turned to the news. There was some new headline about some big-shot politician and some extortion case or other... Heiji changed the channel. Extortion wasn't his thing.

He didn't need this right now. He needed - no, what he needed was a goodnight's sleep. Just sleep on it, he decided, and.. and then tomorrow morning, everything would be okay again. Somehow.

He hoped, anyway.

-.-

It wasn't.

Two full days had passed at this point, and she still hadn't given him any sort of acknowledgment, whatsoever. She breezed past him without so much as a glance; she pointedly avoided his piercing gaze; she surrounded herself with flocks of girls so that he couldn't get to her.

It was driving him insane.

And his words wouldn't stop echoing in his mind, day in and day night: _"If you don't know, then you don't deserve to know."_

Heiji furrowed his brow and resisted the urge to just march over there and give her a piece of his mind.

He settled for observing her, in the end. That was what he usually did when solving cases, right? Sitting back, acting nonchalant. Taking in every single miniscule detail. Using that to solve the crime. He would do it now, like he'd always done before..

He propped his feet on top of his desk, leaning his chair on its back legs. He opened up to the middle of an Ellery Queen novel, eyes skimming the lines.

That was when he caught it. It was the tiniest thing, something that nobody else would have ever caught, in a million years, but he'd seen it, he'd seen it, he'd seen it..

She'd _looked_ at him.

He turned the page, keeping his eyes fixed pointedly on the page. He'd probably read the last sentence about twenty times, but the words didn't register, and he didn't care. He kept waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting, like a predator lurking in the bushes for its prey..

Three.

Two.

One.

And he didn't know how he knew it, but at that moment, he lifted his head from his book and his eyes sought out hers. She turned to look at him at the exact same time and in that one brief second, something clicked and something happened, and an unfiltered emotion flickered across her green orbs. She broke the gaze first, shaking herself almost violently, and Heiji teetered dangerously on the hind legs of his chair before he finally brought the chair down on all fours.

What was that?

That emotion in her face, that - he had... He had seen it before, he had seen it.. somewhere. But where? Darn it.. Heiji exhaled, threw his book down on his desk, and buried his face in his arms, cursing a million times in his head. If only he could just figure out _what_ that emotion had been.. or.. or heck, maybe even _where_ he'd seen it before. That would help, and then maybe he could finally figure why she was so pissed at him..

She was _such_ a friggin _pain_ in the _neck.._

-.-

He found himself walking home by himself that afternoon. He scowled petulantly at the ground, kicking furiously at a pebble. She was such an annoying idiot; always causing him so much anguish and - and _irritation_ and pissing the hell out of him! Honestly, he didn't even know _why_ he'd stuck with her for so long. Maybe he was a masochist. Maybe.

Now that he thought about it, she really _did_ make him mad. Constantly. As in, every single darn day. But.. but every single time, somehow, things had worked themselves out, right? He figured that this would blow over as well, but it had been two days now, _two days_, and they usually forgot about their petty little arguments come the next morning..

She. Was. So. Annoying.

And the worst part of it all was, he reflected, the fact that he couldn't stop _thinking_ about her. She was always on his mind, always floating in at the most random, irrelevant moments.

When he made her cry, it made him want to rip out his insides.

When her smile disappeared, it made him want to run to the ends of the earth to bring it back.

When she yelled at him, he enjoyed it. Because it meant that they were together.

And when she wasn't there, he felt lost. Empty. Incomplete.

For reasons he could never fathom, could never in a million years be able to explain.

So this, he thought, this was why the past few days had been a living hell. Because she hadn't been there. And - and he was so used to having her around that when she _wasn't_, he found himself missing her, missing her terribly, missing her insanely, even if all she did was yell at him until his ears felt about ready to fall off..

No matter what she did..

No matter what she said...

He needed her.

He didn't think he could survive another day without her. As annoying, as idiotic, as _crazy and insane_ as she was.. he didn't think he could spend another day without her.

"Damn her," he muttered, sitting himself down in the middle of the sidewalk, in dire need of some rest. "Damn her, damn her, damn her." He hated her for making him feel this way.

_You're a bitch!_

_...but I love you anyway._

"Damn _who?_"

Heiji jerked his head up. She was standing about a foot away from him, digging the toe of her shoe into the pavement. The wind was whipping her hair into her face, and she reached up and pushed her hair to the side. He watched, mesmerized.

She seemed to grow uncomfortable under his steady gaze. She cleared her throat. "You're blocking the sidewalk," she said, trying and failing to keep a steady voice. His acute hearing caught the faintest hint of a trembling in her voice.

"So?" he challenged.

"So move."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Not until you tell me what's wrong."

She closed her eyes briefly. "Nothing's wrong."

"Bull." The word was spat out, harshly, coldly. " 'zuha, I'm not moving until you tell me what's wrong."

"Then it looks like we'll be out here for a long time."

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Heiji demanded. "Whatever I did, I'm _sorry_, okay? But if you won't even tell me what I did, then how the hell do you expect me to -"

"You don't care."

His temper dissipated into thin air. "...what?"

"You don't care about me." She was staring at the ground. "You don't. Don't try to lie."

"What are you talking about?" He was incredulous. What was she - how could she even _think_ that -

"It's obvious." Her voice was devoid of any emotion. Cold. Apathetic. "You'd ditch me in two seconds flat to go solve some mystery. I understand _that_. Obviously making sure that a murderer doesn't get loose on the streets.. yeah. I get it. I get it. But video games, too?"

"You're wrong." He stood up and took three steps closer. She backed away.

"Don't," she warned. "Don't.."

_You can't sing_

_But you still put me to sleep_

"You can be really stupid sometimes."

She wriggled in his grip, trying and failing to get loose. "Stop." Her voice was flat. "I get it, okay? Just go home - go home and play those stupid games of yours."

"I don't want to."

She shook her head. "Don't lie."

"I'm not!" He was beginning to grow exasperated with her now. "What do I have to do to _show_ you that I _-_ " He froze suddenly as an idea.. an absolutely crazy, downright _insane_ idea fluttered into his brain.

She had her hands on his chest now and was trying to push away. "Let - go -"

It was crazy.

Crazy enough to work, at least.

He steadied his grip on her - firm, but gentle at the same time. He looked directly into her eyes and felt her sharp intake of breath. He bent down and she leaned up. It was instinctive, as if it had always been meant to be, had always been meant to happen.

_You make me sick_

_But, don't ever go away_

"You're out of popcorn," she later informed him.

"What? But we just bought some.." Heiji muttered distractedly as he pounded furiously on the game controls. "Dammit! Jump! JUMP! Do you _want_ to get looted again?"

He heard her come up behind him. "Heiji," she said, warningly, "I thought we were going to go watch a movie."

"We are," he said, "after I beat this level.."

He heard her take a few steps back and listened as her footsteps faded away in the kitchen. Straining his ears, he could hear the creaking sound of the back door opening and shutting.

He threw down the control. "That annoying, infuriating..."

_You're a bitch_

_But I love you anyway_

He nearly tripped over something in his haste to run after her. He met irritated green eyes.

"Were you trying to kill me?" She rubbed at her shoulder.

He blinked. "...you didn't leave."

She smiled wryly. "Figured I might as well wait a bit more. I've waited so long, what do a few more minutes matter?"

He twitched. "It's cold," he said, after a beat of silence. "Come back in."

"But it's just started to snow," she protested, reaching out a gloved hand to capture the falling flakes. White, crystal dots in the sky. Falling, falling, falling. Landing in her hair.

Heiji leaned himself against the door, watching her. This was better than any other video game, hands down.

-.-

Love was like a video game, he decided, later that night, her scent still clouding his senses. Constantly watching your back, making sure the enemy didn't sneak up on you. Pulling all the different tricks out of your sleeve to get to the next level unscathed.

Love was like a video game, between him and her. She always kept him on his toes. Always kept him wondering, wondering, wondering. Always making a complete idiot out of him.

In the end, though, wasn't that why he loved her anyway?

_So why don't you..._

_Stay?_

- fin -

The song used in this little piece is "The Bitch Song" by Bowling for Soup. When I first heard it, the creepiest, _biggest_ grin just came on my face as I ran around the room, squealing at the top of my lungs, "OMG-HEIJI-KAZUHA-SQUEE!" (coughs) Uh, yeah.

For _sapphirestars-chan_! Haha, I told you I'd get it out eventually. xD


	12. Why Can't You Kiss Me NOW?

**Title: **Why Can't You Kiss Me NOW?**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #8 - our own world  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. I just like messing with the characters. xD

Kazuha had had it up to _here_ with today.

Why? Because today, today, today, today, officially, royally, absolutely, completely, freaking, _sucked_.

She figured that she should have paid more attention to the omens that the gods seemed to be raining down on her that day. But she didn't. No, no, like any ignorant person out there, she chose to ignore it, and this, _this_ was why she was so screwed.

First was when her English teacher decided to give them a pop quiz on the wonders of prepositional and adverb phrases. Kazuha had flunked. Oh, she had flunked.

(And what did Heiji get? Oh, of course the brilliant genius detective scored one-hundred-percent. Kazuha felt like shoving his katana up his - )

Ahem.

Then came gym. Usually, Kazuha didn't mind gym; she _was_ pretty good at it, with all of her aikido training and all. But then the stupid gym teacher decided to bring out the _frisbees_. (What the _hell_? Were they _dogs_?)

And so she was kneeling down to pick up a frisbee she'd failed to catch. Natural. Everybody was missing frisbees all over the place. Frisbees were flying, everywhere. Anyway. So she was kneeling down, then she was standing up.

It happened, literally, _in the blink of an eye_.

She blinked.

And..

_Wham_.

She had just - oh, god. She had _not_ just been - She had _not_, she had _not_ -

She had.

She had just been smacked, right in the _eye_, by a flying frisbee.

She tried to open her eye. It wouldn't budge. The girl who'd thrown the said frisbee had bounded over to her - Kazuha narrowed her eyes dangerously at her - and was now apologizing profusely. She still couldn't open her eye. It felt like her eyelid had just grown to about the size of her fist.

Oh, bloody hell.

-.-

"You _could've_ avoided it, couldn't you? You've been taking aikido for god knows how long. Martial arts reflexes and all."

Kazuha glared.

As best as she could with one eye, anyway.

Heiji smirked and leaned against the wall. She was lying down on the bed - _highly_ uncomfortable, by the way - in the nurse's office. She pretended to glower heatedly at him while secretly admiring how _good_ he looked. She mentally slapped herself for that.

"If that had been you, you wouldn't have been able to avoid it, either," she retorted.

"I beg to differ," he said, sniffing. "I've avoided arrows, bullets, knives.."

"Don't remind me," she muttered, and maybe she was seeing things, but she thought she saw his eyes actually soften, just a little bit. She shook her head, telling herself inwardly that it wasn't wise to trust what she saw when she was currently only seeing out of one eye.

"But," he said, and a different sort of emotion seeped into his voice at this point, "you _are_ okay, aren't you?"

Kazuha sighed. "I'll live."

Crud. Why was he moving closer? He was supposed to leave, go off to class and leave her in the nurse's office to wallow in her misery.

And he kept coming closer and closer.

Crap.

"But you're not looking too good," he observed, hovering mere _inches_ above her face. Kazuha prayed to the heavens that she wasn't blushing. "And you can't even open your eyes. You're not fine at all, aho."

Kazuha scowled at him. There went the romantic atmosphere - gah! _What_ romantic atmosphere? This idiot would blow it sky high before it even _reached_ romantic..

"It looks pretty bad.." And his voice got softer and softer, and his _hands_ were on her cheek, brushing gently, gently, gently, against the swollen bruise. Funny, for some reason when he touched it, it felt better..

Kazuha wrinkled her nose at the thought.

And - good god, she was blushing. She could feel it.

Go away, go away, go away, her mind chanted.

Stay, stay, stay, her heart pleaded.

His fingers lingered against her flushed skin. She stopped breathing. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest.

The bell rang.

"I'll see you later," he said, after the ringing had subsided. "I'll walk you home."

"Ah - ah, yeah." She did _not_ just stutter. He waved at her absentmindedly before disappearing out the door. Kazuha pulled the red fleece blanket up to her chin, hoping to the heavens that her face wasn't as red as the blanket.

-.-

By the end of the day, she was able to open her eye, even if just a little bit. It was odd, seeing the world clearly in one eye, yet seeing it hazily, blurrily, through the other. She rolled out of bed, walking slowly and running her hand along the walls to establish her sense of balance.

"Crud," she muttered, as her vision clouded and she grasped at something in the air to keep herself steady.

She nearly jumped out of her skin - along with shrieking a few well-chosen adjectives - when that something wrapped around her wrist.

And fell backwards upon seeing stormy green eyes.

"Sh -" She was cut off when strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her to a standing position. Her breath came out in ragged gasps as her face pressed somebody's shoulder. The scent of cinnamon hung in the air. She didn't want this moment to end. She wanted - she wanted to stay like this, forever..

Her body reacted on its own. She found herself pushing back from him, looking up. His eyes were angry, thunderous.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

She started. What emotion was _that_ in his voice?

"You can barely see!" His voice was loud, echoing throughout the room. "You could've - you could've gotten hurt, you could've fallen, you could've broken something -"

"I'm not blind," she tried to snap, but he was seriously angry with her this time, and she couldn't do anything about it.

"And what _then_? Were you planning on leaving without even telling me? What would've happened if you'd tripped and fallen onto the _road_!"

"Heiji -"

"No! You could have gotten _hurt_!"

And there was something in his eyes..

Could it be?

She smiled at him, a small, faint one. She reached out and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"I get it," she said, softly. "I won't do anything like that ever again. Okay?"

He blinked down at her and seemed to realize that he'd just ranted for the better part of the last five minutes. He cleared his throat and looked away. "...fine."

She smiled again and linked her arm through his. "Overprotective dork."

"Clumsy idiot."

-.-

They were walking home, Kazuha's right eye only partially open. How hard had that girl thrown that frisbee anyway? For crying out loud...

Plus... they were walking a little bit closer than usual. His hand brushed hers, his shoulder rubbed against hers. She could smell his scent. It was driving her crazy.

And back - back at the nurse's office. He had seriously, truly been worried about her. She could see it in his eyes. He'd really, really cared, and she wasn't sure what that meant. If it meant anything at all..

She wished she could make sense of it all.

Or take a large, heavy, blunt hammer, and whack him senseless.

Either one would do, really.

"Dammit!" She heard him exclaim violently, and then before she knew what was happening, he'd grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her away from the road, pushing her against the side of a wall, breathing heavily. Her head was tucked underneath his chin, and she felt - she felt so - so _safe_, so _protected_...

"That stupid car," she heard him mumble angrily, along with a few other choice words. He wasn't letting go of her.

Did she want him to let go?

"Are you okay?" He wasn't looking at her. He was staring at the wall, still pressing her against it, shielding her from the rest of the world.

She swallowed. "Y - yeah."

-.-

She could see her house in the distance. Instinctively, subconsciously, she found herself slowing down her pace. He was walking right beside her, eyes focused straight ahead. She couldn't help but notice that... well, he was kind of _close_ to her. Closer than usual, anyway.

The streets were empty, lit by lightposts on the sidewalk. It was quiet. He wasn't saying anything, and she didn't know what to say to fill in the silence.

Her mouth opened. "My house is over there."

"I know."

God. There was something in his voice. Something, something... but she didn't know what it was.

They were drawing nearer now. She could see the front steps. The neatly trimmed grass. The azaleas. The lights were off. She knew they would be. Her father was at work, of course. He always was, always coming home late at night. But she didn't hate him for it. She understood - and she was used to it.

But tonight..

Tonight, she didn't want to come home to an empty house.

She didn't want to eat dinner out of a can.

She didn't want to be alone.

"I don't want to go home." The words fell out of her.

He stopped. "What?"

The right thing to do, her mind rambled on at this point, would have been to deny ever having said anything. To have just kept walking straight home, bid him goodnight, and close the door behind her.

Her mouth didn't listen.

"I don't want to go home," she repeated, softer this time. "I - I don't want to - it's empty and dark, and there's nobody there; my dad won't get home until later, and -" She cut herself off sharply and shook her head. She cursed at herself.

"Then," he said, voice equally soft, hands ghosting around her shoulders, as if uncertain whether he should hold her or not, and what was worse was that Kazuha _wanted_ him to hold her... She pushed these thoughts out of her head as he continued, still gazing into her eyes, "you don't have to."

-.-

She sat down on the couch, listening to his mother talking on the phone, letting her father know that she was sleeping over. Her eye was still swollen - Heiji's mother had expressed horror and compassion, and even handed her a large ice pack, which Kazuha was currently pressing onto her injured eye.

How had things turned out this way?

"Don't even try to think about it," she muttered, "you'll just end up with a headache."

"Don't strain yourself now," Heiji said, amiably, sitting down next to her. "All that thinking."

She stuck her tongue out at him and removed the ice pack from her eye. "How does it look?"

She found herself gulping audibly as he moved closer, eyes gazing directly into hers. Her heart pounded, _thud, thud, thud_. "It kind of looks like... you're wearing purple eyeshadow."

Kazuha blinked, incredulous. "...what?"

He shrugged. "It's true. Your eyelid's bruised, so it's purple, and it looks like you're wearing eyeshadow.."

"You're kidding."

He rose from the couch and held out his hand. Kazuha stared at it for awhile. What did he want?

"Come on," he said, impatiently.

"What?"

"I'm going to prove it to you." He jerked his hand towards her. "C'mon, in the bathroom."

Everything was so absurd. But she found herself reaching for his hand, watching as his fingers tangled through hers and as he pulled her up easily. He didn't let go of her hand, not even when they'd reached the bathroom. He turned on the light, and Kazuha peered at her reflection.

"It _does_ look like eyeshadow!" She turned her head to the side. "Oh, it looks bad, though, doesn't it.."

He pulled on her arm, and as she turned, he cupped her cheek in his left hand. "Kind of," he observed, fingertips hovering over her cheek, sending her pulse racing, her stomach hurling. "But it's a lot better than this morning." Relief crossed his voice at this point. "This morning, it was huge, and you couldn't even open your eye..." His voice dropped an octave. "I was worried."

Oh.

Oh, oh, oh.

He did _not_ have the right to say things like that. He did _not_ have the right to take her completely off guard and - and - and pull off crap like that, and make her want to - make her want to kiss him senseless, and -

Good god. Why was he so close? Why did he always come closer when all she wanted to do was run off the face of the earth, just to get away from him, to get away from these conflicting feelings in her heart?

Then he moved away. The air was cold where he once was. "I'll get you some more ice," he murmured. "You're running out."

Kazuha stood there, stunned. What had - what had just -

She sighed and followed after him, turning the light off behind her. That was when she heard him mumbling to himself, words that didn't make any sense, words that she almost didn't hear.

"I can't," he was saying. "Not now. Not now. Not - not _ever_. Dammit, don't be stupid.."

Kazuha furrowed her brow. What?

"...she can't even _see_.."

Kazuha was about _this_ close to smacking him over the head. What couldn't she see? Her eye might have been really really swollen at the moment, but she wasn't, by any means, blind..

She ran after him and yanked at his arm, violently. He yelped and accidentally let out a few words he probably hadn't meant to. Upon seeing that it was her, he sighed exasperatedly.

"What's wrong with you?" she beat him to the punch. "You're all - you're all mumbling to yourself - and I don't get a single word you're saying -"

His arm snaked around her waist. Her breath caught in her throat. "Because," he said, "_you_ -"

Kazuha froze.

He closed his eyes suddenly and turned away, his fingers brushing against her shirt, her skin, as he did so.

Kazuha _twitched_.

He was absolutely, positively, _not_ going to just walk away from her for the third time in a row. Not after the crappy, sucky day she'd just had at school. Oh, no.

"Hattori Heiji!" She found that using his full name had more of an effect. "I swear to god, if you don't march over here and kiss me _now_, I'll punch your brains out!"

Heiji blinked.

Kazuha glowered, absolutely fuming.

And then he crossed the room, pulled her possessively, almost harshly, against him, and claimed her lips with his. Kazuha melted in his arms.

"Happy now?" he asked, smirking.

Kazuha smiled, his arms locked around her, keeping the two of them in their own world, apart from everyone else. "Very."

- fin -

You can blame **Lyn "Jarewo" Wors-chan** for this. (Dedicated to you, by the way!) Was supposed to be working on IBE. But then she kept sending plot bunny after plot bunny after plot bunny at me. And... this was born. xD Can we say **bipolar**?

By the way - the whole getting hit in the eye with a frisbee thing? Not fun, not at all. Really painful, in fact. x.x Happened to me in the seventh grade. Somebody **did** make the comment about me looking like I had purple eyeshadow, too..

In the nurse's office, my dad comes in, sees me sitting on the little bed, and goes: Oh, thank _goodness_ your glasses weren't broken..

Me: Oh yeah, Dad, **I'm** perfectly fine, thanks for asking.

Ah. Leave a review, hm?


	13. That Time of Year

**Title: **And it's that time of year again..**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #14 - radio-cassette player  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. I just like messing with the characters. xD

_For **Lyn "Jarewo" Wors-chan**. Merry Christmas! Here's a short piece of silliness for ya!_

It was Christmas, which meant that he was obligated to get her present. Some part of Kazuha secretly delighted in this fact. She enjoyed receiving presents from Heiji. Most of the time they were _stupid_ presents, but sometimes he used his head and gave her something - well, sweet.

Gossip traveled fast in their school, and the previous week, some girl Kazuha barely knew had approached her, wide grin across her face. Kazuha had blinked, more than just a little surprised.

"I hear," this girl said, "that Hattori-kun is going to get you -" And her voice dropped to a dramatic whisper, "a _ring_ for Christmas."

Poor girl. She hadn't realized what a reaction her words would produce.

_Thud_.

Said girl screamed. "Kazuha-chan's _fainted_!"

-.-

And so here she was, five A.M. on Christmas morning, curled up in a fetal position in her bed. Was it true? Had Heiji really gotten her a _ring_? But - but _why_? Surely, even as dense as he was, he knew the implications of giving a _girl_ - even your long-time childhood friend - a _ring_..

She was going to have a heart attack if she kept this up.

She threw the blanket over her head. Go to sleep, she chanted in hermind, go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep..

-.-

As soon as the first rays of sunshine flooded her room, she was up in an instant. She took a quick shower, threw on some clothes, and ran outside into the snow. A smile spread across her face. It widened as she heard his voice.

"Oi! Merry Christmas!"

She turned to him and basically glomped the life out of him. He stumbled slightly, and she noticed - oh, she noticed, all right - that he'd draped an arm loosely around her waist. When she pulled away, slightly red in the face, he was smiling at her too.

"Where's my present?" she asked, bouncing lightly on her heels.

He rolled her eyes. "Where's mine?"

"I asked you first!"

He rolled his eyes again and thrust a giftwrapped box at her. She couldn't help it - she _squealed_ and hurriedly unwrapped it, her mind racing. Is it a ring? Is it really a ring? Is it really a -

A CD player.

"A CD player," she said.

"Not _just_ a CD player," he corrected her. "Plays CDs, cassettes, _and_ you can listen to the radio on it."

Kazuha blinked at it. Then she laughed and shook her head. Was she disappointed? Of course. But how could she have let herself _believe_ that Heiji would go to the lengths of giving her a ring? She felt like such an idiot. Her mind promptly blanked out as she shook her head, still laughing mirthfully.

"I love it," she said, turning to face him. "Thank you." Still too busy laughing at herself, she tiptoed up and kissed him on the cheek. Then she started off towards the house, offering him a silent invitation.

Heiji, meanwhile, was too busy remembering the feel of her lips - nice, soft lips, by the way - against his skin. He froze, and then yelled after her.

"OI!" He shouted. "Did you just _kiss_ me?"

- fin -


	14. Missed Chances

**Title: **Missed Chances**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #1 - look over here  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

If Kazuha were truly honest with herself, she would have admitted to herself a long time ago that falling in love with Heiji was the worst thing she could ever have done. But she didn't, and she entertained a small false hope that maybe, just maybe, he felt the same way.

People often said that being in love was one of the most wonderful things in the world. Kazuha, personally, was inclined to disagree. Being in love was awful - especially unrequited love. That tearing feeling in your gut, the mere knowledge, the certainty of knowing that _he_ could never feel the same way -

Seeing him walking around with other girls.

She knew that - she knew that he wasn't _with_ any of them, not in that way, but nonetheless, it never stopped hurting when she saw him walking down the halls with a girl by his side. Talking. Before, she used to rant with a jealous rage, but now, she was tired. She was so tired.

It would have been better if she'd never fallen for him.

It would have been better...

...if she'd never met him.

But those times when he would turn to her and smile and greet her, "Hey, Kazuha!" her anger would melt and she wouldn't be able to stop herself from smiling back and thinking to herself, _this, this is what makes everything okay, this is what keeps me going on._

Stop it, stop it.

_Stop playing with me_.

-.-

There were times when she could swear that she'd seen him looking at her. A short glance her way, then an abrupt turn of the head the moment she turned to look at him. What did it mean?

Then there were times when she could imagine that life was normal - that she didn't love him, that he was just a friend, like other friends, who helped her with homework and knew the family personally.

But when he turned his green eyes to hers and spoke to her in his voice, and when he smiled and laughed and sympathized with her, she knew that she was dead wrong.

But..

What could she do? She couldn't stop loving him. She'd tried and tried, but each time it never worked.

She was trapped. She was locked in. And frankly, she had thrown the key away a long time ago, without ever being conscious of doing so.

_Don't do this to me, don't do this to me._

And what was most painful was that he never knew. He never knew, he never knew. So when he walked her to school in the mornings and chatted with her about petty things, he never knew how much it was hurting her inside.

Then when they argued, which wasn't uncommon, about one thing after another after another, he never knew the pain it caused her.

He didn't know how afraid she was that he would one day get himself killed on one of his murder cases. He didn't know how frightened, how downright terrified she had been when he'd gotten seriously hurt during one of his kendo tournaments. He didn't know, and would never know, just how much she truly cared.

He didn't know.

She didn't want him to know.

He never saw, even though, inside, some part of her secretly _wanted_ him to see.

_Look over here, look over here._

So the world kept going, time never stopped. Days passed by, into weeks and months and years. And he never knew, he never knew.

-.-

She wondered what it would be like to kiss him.

Normally, such thoughts would have elicited some sort of a reaction on her part. A blush, a curse, an exaggerated denial. But she was older now, and with maturity had come acceptance. And pain. Bittersweet pain.

His lips, often chapped from the wind, crushing hers.

She shook her head. A sad little laugh, one that sounded almost like a sob, escaped her.

He couldn't see.

And she was too afraid to let him.

_Look over here, look over here._

But he never had, he never did, and he never would.

-.-

It was the final year of high school. No. It was the last day. He had, of course, graduated with top honors, and although she hadn't done too badly herself, it served as a reminder that he was so much smarter, so much better than her.

Diplomas in hand, graduation robes swishing as they walked, the graduating class gracefully processed off the stage.

She saw him at the head of the crowd. She hung back, half-listening to some of her other friends. She was tired. She wanted to leave. He was going to Tokyo University. She hadn't decided yet, whether she should go to a smaller college she'd already been accepted to, or to go abroad. England, America?

He was surrounded by his friends from the kendo team, from fangirls that she had grown exhausted of shooing away. She saw his parents in the crowd, and offered a small, polite in their direction. She saw her own father, lingering in the doorway, smiling at her as well. She forced another smile out for his sake.

When she decided that she'd remained there long enough, she nodded to her father, a silent signal that she was ready to leave. As she was gathering her belongings and trying to make her way out to the door, she was forced to take the long way around by a group of chattering students. She brushed by _him_, but his head was turned in the opposite direction. She stared at him for a moment, almost as if.. almost as if willing him to turn to face her. And when he finally _did_ turn around, it was just as she was turning herself around, and she only caught a glimpse of his green pupils before walking out the door.

_Look over here, look over here._

She slowed her steps down to satisfy a vain hope that maybe, just maybe, he would come after her.

She followed her father silently down the hall.

He never came after her. He never said goodbye.

- fin -


	15. Stop

**Title: **Stop**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #27 - overflow  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

He doesn't know what he is supposed to think, what he is supposed to feel. All he can imagine is her - _her, god, the girl he'd known his entire life, the girl he was in -love- with, dammit _-

Oh, god.

What if she -

What if she _died_ - and - and he never -

"Hattori." Heiji raises blank green eyes to meet Conan's childish and mature sapphire ones, hidden behind glasses. "She's -" But Heiji drowns out the words, eyes locked on the object of his thoughts... A girl.. no. A woman, now, really. Lying on a stretcher. Skin as pale as snow.

Scratches and bruises on her body.

Momentarily, he sees red. But when she raises her hand weakly, her fingers grasping feebly at air, and hears her voice, _her precious sweet voice_, calling his name, he forgets everything and finds himself at his side quicker than lightning.

"Ka - Kazu - _Kazuha_..."

She smiles. Not with her lips, but with her eyes.

"Hei...ji.."

Tears cloud his vision. Dammit, is he _crying_? He wasn't - he wasn't supposed to cry -

"I'm sorry." The words fall out of him, and his hand seeks hers. Fingers locked together. A perfect fit. "I'm so sorry.." He curses at himself, at the world, at everything. Mostly at himself. "I should have - I should have been there."

She shakes her head. "No. I - I rushed out. I got mad at you, and - "

"No." The tears are overflowing. With them rush out his emotions. "You could have gotten killed." Visions of the men in black permeate his mind, squeezing and not letting go. "You - "

She grows concerned and tries - then fails - to sit up. They're in the ambulance now. They're moving. Heiji barely remembers anything.

All he knows is that at this moment -

She is okay.

Hair matted with dirt. Clinging to her face. Tangled. Bruises, scratches everywhere.

And he finds that she is the most beautiful sight in the world.

"Shush," he tells her, seeing her eyes drifting shut from exhaust. He catches a glimpse of her jade eyes before her eyes flutter closed. His hand never leaves hers. His other hand brushes strands away from her face. Emotions overflow and he whispers three words before bending over to press a light kiss to her forehead.

"Don't leave me."

He moves away.

"I won't," she whispers.

- fin -

Hm. I don't know what I was thinking. I just finished watching that latest "Grey's Anatomy" episode. And this is what happened. Haha. (Side note: good gosh, I'm so sorry for the horribly late update. Muse is dead. And I didn't want to force anything and coming up with some crappy.. thing. So yeah. Hang in there, pray for my muse to come back to life so I can update more!)


	16. Iridescent

**Title: **Iridescent**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #19 - red  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

Red is the color of her face when he sits too close to her. Red is the color of her eyes when he says something wrong and she gets out the mallet.

Red is the color of her lips when she decides to get dressed up every now and then, and apply lipstick.

Red.

Red is the color of _his_ face when she sits too close to him. Red is the color he sees when other guys come too close and cross the line...

Red is the only thing he sees when she dangles off that cliff, clinging to his hand for life.

And when he manages to pull her to safety and he walks down that long, winded path through the forest, with her body slung over his shoulder, the red fades away to a comforting light yellow.

When he finally tells her he loves her, the red fades to a milder, gentler pink.

When she leans forward and kisses him on the lips, white surrounds them, in an ethereal mist.

And when he finally gets down on one knee and presents her with that black velvet box and tears stream down her cheeks and her jade green eyes mist over and her mouth opens to say _Yes, yes, I will_, all the colors blend together. Red, yellow, green, orange, blue, purple - to become her, and only her.

- fin -

Yeah. I know. Haven't updated in forever. I felt guilty so I managed to churn this little drabble-thingy out. I wanted to make it longer, but.. ah well.


	17. Everybody always thinks they're together

**Title**: Everybody always thinks they're together

**Author:** fireblazie

**Pairing:** Heiji/Kazuha

**Fandom:** Detective Conan

**Theme:** #13, excessive chain

**Disclaimer:** Don't own ANYTHING.

In the beginning, whenever people would blink innocently at them and ask, "So, how long have you guys been going out?" the reactions on the sides of Heiji and Kazuha were one of three.

One -

Heiji: _blush_.

Kazuha: _blush_.

Heiji: _still blushing_, but would manage to churn out a, "We're NOT going out!"

Number two -

Heiji: _grumble._

Kazuha: _blush, stammer, stutter._

Heiji: _evil demon head of doom,_ and then, "We're NOT going out!" followed by a long rant on exactly _why_ he wasn't going out with her, in which Kazuha would then retort with her own version of the _evil demon head of doom_, and a fight would break out. Again. Nothing different or special about it, really.

Scenario three -

Heiji: _demon head of doom, complete with a katana!_ "If somebody else asks me that, I'll find a nice spot for their _head_ at the bottom of the Sea of Japan!" accompanied by some very colorful cursing, in which Kuroba – because he _did_ pop up at the oddest places, really – would applaud and whistle appreciatingly.

But it was common now. They were childhood friends, after all, practically glued to the hip. Nothing would ever change that. They'd be together. Always, always. Whenever asked this question, Kazuha would smile, though not without a hint of red on her cheeks, and deny the fact.

But what really got Heiji's attention was the longing, wistful tone he could detect in her voice. It tore at him. Made him feel guilty.

Why? It shouldn't matter. It shouldn't.

And yet, it did. Because somewhere deep inside of _him_… he felt that same longing, too.

-.-

The most frustrating part of it was that even though they were always together, that was just it. They were just _together_, strictly as friends. He wanted more.. sort of… well… he thought he wanted more. He felt like he wanted more. Tied together by an eternal bond. An excessively strong, powerful, bonding chain.

The hardest thing is to have something so close, but to not really have it at all.

"It's obvious that she likes you too," Kudo told him.

Heiji frowned down at the seven-year-old. "Well, s'not like I can do anything about it."

Kudo raised an eyebrow. "Oh, besides, you know, asking her out."

Heiji blanched. "No. I can't. Not with _them_ on the loose and all. They probably know that I'm helping you." Accusing glare. "And if she gets hurt… you know. Same reason you can't tell Neechan about your issues."

Kudo offered him a sincere, apologetic smile. "Sorry."

Heiji waved him off. "Nah. Don't be. We'll take 'em down soon."

-.-

And they did. Eventually. They went through hell and back to do it, but eventually, things were normal and the Black Organization was gone for good – although Kudo was still a midget. Ai was "almost there" with the cure, but "not quite" and so Kudo had to put up with _that_ for a little while.

Heiji didn't envy the guy, though. Not one bit. Ran had found out, because it was pretty hard to explain exactly _why_ Conan-kun had scratches, bruises, and dried blood on every inch of his body, as well as a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

"I fell down the stairs," Kudo managed to stammer. Ran gave him her patented _Don't-you-dare-lie-to-me-or-I-will-disembowel-you-and-I'm-not-kidding_ look.

Heiji rolled his eyes and decided to take off the glasses on Kudo's nose that were half broken and bent anyway. "D'you remember Kudo Shinichi?" he asked Ran. "Here he is."

Kudo shot him a look that could have frozen Gin in his tracks.

Heiji simply smiled.

-.-

Heiji stared at Kazuha's front door, contemplating. Maybe it wasn't too late. He could still run back to his house and no one would ever know.

"I am _not_ a coward," he muttered.

He raised his hand to knock.

And dropped it, almost immediately, back to his side.

Well, maybe he could come back tomorrow…

"Heiji?"

Crap.

"What's up?" She tilted her head to the side – and then noticed the numerous bruises and cuts marring his body. "Heiji! What _happened_?"

"It doesn't matter," he muttered, thickly. His head was feeling all clogged up. Muddy. Her fingertips traced the contours of his body, inhaling whenever she came across a particularly deep gash.

"Doesn't matter?" she asked him, incredulously. "It looks like you went through _hell_!" She looked into his eyes. "This _has_ to matter. It's no small, laughing matter from where I stand."

"It doesn't matter," he repeated.

_All that matters…_

_The only thing that matters…_

Delirious, he leaned forward and kissed her.

…_is you_.

-.-

"What is this?" Heiji stared at the pair of handcuffs Kuroba was holding in his face.

"Handcuffs," he answered.

"Yeah, I can see _that_," Heiji growled, accepting the said pair of handcuffs. He glanced at Kudo, who, at this point, was now Kudo and no longer Conan, "but _why_?"

"For Kazuha-san to keep you in line, of course," Kuroba replied.

"Thought it would be interesting," Kudo smirked, "maybe we could handcuff you guys together. Just like the first time, when you were kids."

Heiji glared and looked at the handcuffs with distaste apparent in his expression. "What's with the weird chain? It's so long, and thick, and sturdy…"

Kudo and Kuroba simply cackled.

"For bedroom purposes," Kuroba said, smugly.

Heiji blinked.

And gave chase.

"COME BACK HERE!"

**FIN –**

(Ending notes: Yeah.. it's been forever since I've updated, I know, I know. But at least I did! And I'm planning to seriously wrap this up this summer so that my HeijiKazuha conscience will be at ease. –laughs– so I'm really not sure if there was a whole lot of HeijiKazuha-ness in here.. but.. well, they're in there. xD)


	18. In which Kazuha slaps Heiji repeatedly

**Title: **In which Kazuha slaps Heiji repeatedly**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #7, superstar  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

Kazuha had always known in her heart that Heiji was smart. Not just average, number one in your class, will most likely grow up to graduate high school at the top of his class with three thousand billion honors to his name… but really, _really_ smart, as in, _famous_-smart. Like Bill Gates or.. some other really smart person. (Kazuha didn't pretend to understand half of the things he said. Because she knew that she was average, not super-duper-intelligent, and she didn't want to seem like a pretender)

She realized that he was destined for greater things when he solved his first case. How old had they been? Some time before entering middle school, that was the only thing she was certain of. His father had clapped him on the shoulder with a curt nod and an approving smile. Heiji had blushed slightly, but had made up for it by boasting. Repeatedly.

That was when Kazuha first slapped him.

"Aho!" he yelled.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Stupid," she muttered, and kicked him in the shin.

-.-

The second time she slapped him was when they were both around twelve or thirteen, and he was on his way to solving another murder case. (And was it her, or did a lot of these murder cases occur around him? One would think that dead bodies stalked the guy, really) The police officers already at the scene were nodding along with whatever Heiji was saying, and Kazuha thought it was rather ironic, a bunch of middle-aged men listening to a thirteen-year-old boy.

"Great job, kid," the inspector told him. "You'd better grow up to join the police force."

After that, photographers from the local newspapers clamored to take his picture. Reporters pushed their way past her to get an interview with the genius thirteen-year-old.

Kazuha waited for ten minutes before giving up and going home.

-.-

There were loud, impatient knocks at the door. Kazuha, who had dozed off while watching a soap opera on T.V., sleepily stumbled off the couch and opened the front door.

A certain dark-skinned teen was sitting there, glaring sullenly at her.

Kazuha prickled uncomfortably. Heiji's glares were intimidating, though they never affected her – but this was different, a little bit more intense.

"What?" she asked, finally.

"Where were you?"

She glowered at him. "What do you think, Sherlock? I went home."

"I figured _that_ much out." He crossed his arms over his chest. "What I meant was more of _why_."

The bitterness that had engulfed Kazuha all afternoon came pouring out of her. "Well, _you_ were off getting your picture taken and getting interviewed by all of these reporters, Mr. Superstar! What was I supposed to do? Wait for you like your _wife_? I don't think so, Heiji. I have other, _better_ things to do. Homework. Watching T.V. I'm not going to follow you around like some lovesick puppy. I'm not that kind of girl."

And she slapped him.

"Idiot," he barked, seemingly unfazed by her slap, "you didn't have to just run off."

The condescending tone in his voice made Kazuha raise her hand again, and just as her palm was about to make contact with his skin, he grabbed it.

Kazuha gasped in surprise. His skin, touching hers. His fingers, wrapping themselves around her palm.

Her heart jumped.

"If you were getting tired of waiting around, you could have just asked me to leave. I would've left."

Her anger ebbed away. "Really?" she asked doubtfully.

"Yes." He rolled his eyes. "I'd rather be with you than be off answering stupid questions for the papers."

"Oh." She looked down. What did he mean by that? "Okay."

-.-

The following Thursday, there was yet another murder. Kazuha sighed and watched as Heiji stepped in the middle of the restaurant, next to the cadaver, and ordered _nobody_ to leave. She closed her eyes so that she wouldn't see the body.

Police officers arrived. Heiji solved the case in about five minutes flat. Then came the photographers and the news reporters. She let out a long sigh and took a sip of her iced tea.

She was so afraid.

She was _nothing_ compared to Heiji. Nothing. He was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. He literally could be the next Sherlock Holmes. He could be so famous, so rich. And what was she? She was _average_.

She jerked back sharply when someone poked her in the middle of her back. She whirled around.

Green eyes.

"Come on. Let's go."

She blinked as he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her up. "Wait! Aren't you going to answer their –"

"Nah. Don't feel like it."

She opened her mouth to argue, but fell silent at the look on his face. Determined. A slight, almost undetectable trace of pink kissing his cheeks.

She closed her mouth and smiled. "All right."

FIN –


	19. Say It! Say It! Say It!

**Title:** Say It! Say It! Say it!**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #15, perfect blue  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan, My Name is Kim Sam Soon, or The Princess Bride. (Huh. I really should try to come up with some originality here, shouldn't I?)

One lazy afternoon with perfect blue skies, right smack dab in the middle of doing their homework, Kazuha asked an unexpected question.

"Heiji, why haven't you told me that you love me yet?"

Heiji coughed, spluttered, turned a hundred shades of red, and managed a, "What?"

"It's a fair question!" Kazuha protested, though she had turned a little pink as well. She chewed on her pencil eraser and ewnt on, "I mean… we've known each other for a long time… and we started dating… and… well, Ran-chan says that Kudo-kun's said it to her a million times now!"

Heiji stared. "So you want me to tell you that I love you because Kudo said it to Neechan. Hardly fair, is it?"

Kazuha sighed. "I know, but, it's not like you wouldn't _mean_ it… would you?" Her eyes narrowed into menacing slits.

Heiji coughed.

"Haven't you ever told _anyone_ that you love him or her?"

Heiji scowled. "Well. No."

Kazuha gaped. "Seriously?"

Heiji rolled his eyes. "It's true. I've never said it."

A beat of silence, and then, "Why not? I mean – not even your parents? Any relatives?"

Heiji thought for a moment, and, in the middle of jotting down some notes for English, answered, "I haven't said it to anyone."

Kazuha simply gawked at him. "Is there something wrong with you? In the head?"

Heiji shot her a Look.

Kazuha flailed. "How can you have _never_ told someone? It's easy. I – love – you. Simple stuff for the Great Detective of the West."

Heiji sighed. "I'll say it when I'm ready."

"To your _mother_?" Kazuha was contemplating exactly what state of mind she'd been in when she'd decided to fall in love with this idiot sitting in front of her. "You need to be ready to tell your mother you love her?"

The look Heiji shot her would most likely have sent even Kaito running for his life. "No. I'll tell _you_ when _I'm_ ready."

Kazuha stared at him in that way she knew that scared the hell out of Heiji. "So you _don't_ love me?"

"Dammit, Kazuha!"

"Fine, fine." She stuck her tongue out at him. "I'm shutting up."

-.-

Days, weeks, months, and seasons rolled by. The discussion had nearly faded entirely from Kazuha's mind when Heiji dragged her off, one cool day in spring when the cherry blossoms were blooming, and sat her down underneath the prettiest one. The skies were an ethereally perfect blue.

Kazuha arched an eyebrow. "What are we doing here?"

"Well." Heiji wrung his hands, a sign that he was a teensy bit nervous, and impatiently stalked back and forth in the dewy grass, "I have to tell you something."

Kazuha stayed silent, waiting for him to go on.

"Well. You know."

Kazuha tilted her head to the side.

"I love you."

She _gaped_.

"Oi!" He waved a hand in her face. "You okay?"

She grabbed his hand in midair. "Say that… again."

He had enough gall to smirk. _"I love you,"_ he repeated. _"Want it louder? I LOVE YOU! Spell it out, should I? I – ell – oh – vee –ee – why – oh – you. Want it backward? You love I." _

"Are you okay?" Kazuha could barely contain her laughter.

"Am I okay?" Heiji was looking at her as if she'd grown an extra head. "I go through all of _this_ just to _tell_ you and all you –"

Kazuha silenced him with a kiss.

"I love you, too," she said, smiling.

**FIN –**

End notes: Oh, this entire thing was inspired by the last episode of _My Name is Kim Sam Soon_, awesome drama, that is! And the italicized line where Heiji's all, 'I love you, want it louder, spell it out…' is from _The Princess Bride_. Hope you all enjoyed!


	20. It hurts to look at you

EDIT: Originally, the theme used here was #1, look over here. Then later on, after posting this, I realized that I had already used that theme… so, I changed it to #25, fence. There's not much of a difference, just a couple of sentences added in to satisfy the theme.

**Title: **It hurts to look at you**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #25, fence

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

Heiji rested his chin in his hands, staring outside the window. Gorgeous, beautiful day. But no, he was stuck inside an art classroom. Why had he taken art again? He wasn't sure.

"Today we'll be sketching human faces," their art teacher announced, "pair up with someone and start sketching. These are due at the end of class! Get to work!"

Kazuha tapped him on the shoulder. He shook himself out of his daze. "Umnh?"

She sighed. "You weren't listening again, were you?"

He stood up and brushed past her. " 'course I was. We have to sketch each other's faces. Lemme get some paper. Hang on a sec."

"Mm."

-.-

A few minutes later, they were sitting outside, on top of the lunch tables. She was sketching him, and she was taking _forever_ going on about it. He had an itch, and he so desperately wanted to scratch it.

"Don't," she said, threateningly, "don't even think about moving."

He let out a long-suffering sigh. "Then hurry up!"

"I'm almost done!" she snapped back, staring intently at her paper. She tilted her head to the side, shrugged, and put it down. "All right. Done."

"About time," he muttered, and picked up his own sketchbook, flipping the pages until he came to a blank page. Now she was sitting up straight, staring at something off in the distance.

He did a quick sketch of her outline, the facial structure, and the hair, forever in that swinging ponytail. He frowned at his drawing as he now had to contemplate filling in the nose and the mouth and the eyes. He decided he'd save the eyes for last. He filled in the nose – a little crooked, he thought, absently, but not half-bad – and drew the lips. They weren't smiling, they weren't frowning.

"Look this way," he said.

Reluctantly, her eyes rested on him. He'd just taken his eyes off of her for a second, just to draw the pupils and irises and lashes. When he looked back, she was staring at something else again.

"Look _here_," he said, getting a little bit annoyed. "I'm almost done. I just need to draw your eyes…"

"Well, then, hurry up," she retorted, using his earlier words. She turned her eyes in his direction, staring down at his neck, or shoulders.

"Look at my _face_. Look at my _eyes_. Your eyes keep flickering all over the place. And stop blinking."

She rolled her eyes. "Stop being such a perfectionist. Just draw _something_."

"You afraid to look at me or something?" He threw at her, unaware of how right he actually was. She stared down again. When had this wall been built between them? An impossibly large fence, unable to be broken down by anybody, perhaps not even Hercules himself. She felt so awkward and clumsy around him, and she couldn't explain why. All she knew was that she couldn't bear to be near him for one more second –

With a loud huff of impatience, he thrust his arm out, warm fingers enveloping her chin and tilting her face up so that she was looking directly at him. He kept her in that position as his right hand finished the sketch.

"Done," he said, and as he pulled away, noticed how red her face was. Fleetingly, he wondered what it would be like to kiss her, and quickly pushed the thought out of his mind.

-.-

Two days after, their art teacher stood in the front of the room, holding a stack of papers.

"These are your sketches," she said, "most of them very well-done. Particularly – _these_ two."

She held up a sketch in her left hand, the one Heiji himself had drawn. In her right hand, another one, the one Kazuha must have drawn. Heiji stared into the near-perfect image of himself, woven into paper.

"The emotion captured in this one –" She laid down the picture of Heiji and focused on the picture of Kazuha, "is the emotion of the subject herself. Notice the eyes. Wide. Afraid. Whoever said that eyes are the windows into the soul had no idea how right he was.

"And then this one." She picked up the picture of Heiji. "This one shows the emotion of the sketcher, the drawer, the outsider. Notice how the figure is small, indicating that he is far away from us. He looks, but doesn't _see_. Cold. Alone. The artist struggles to come closer for a better picture, but he is too far. They are divided by a barrier, a fence. Very well done, these two."

Heiji swallowed, throat excruciatingly dry. He reached out, but this time, it was Kazuha who turned away.

**FIN –**

(Eep. I was supposed to change this so that it was happier. But then I realized that for some odd reason, I liked it. Inspired by _Akogare_, by _s'old fic_, which is a _gorgeous_ Eriol/Tomoyo story)


	21. Just Another Sunny Day

**Title: **Just Another Sunny Day**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #4, our distance and that person

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

"Leave me alone," he growled.

"No," she growled right back.

Now, that was not a particularly unusual scene for Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha. After all, with them being.. well, _them_, they were constantly screaming at each other for the pettiest things, hurling insults towards each other so easily that it was like throwing chalk.

Which had happened, once, but had ended unhappily for both of them because they had been forced to stay after school to clean up the large chalk spill that had littered the classroom floor. But anyhow.

"For crying out loud, 'zuha," he said, teeth gritted in that way that revealed that he was trying, trying, _trying_, to convince her to go away and stay home and be a good girl. "It's really none of your business, okay? Guy stuff."

Kazuha frowned. "Guy stuff?" she echoed.

"Yes. Guy stuff."

"With whom?" Kazuha crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, silently demanding an answer.

"With Kudo."

Kazuha stared at him. Why on earth was he spending so much time with _Kudo_, anyway? And why on earth hadn't she seen Kudo face to face yet? She decided to ask him.

"Well, then, why can't I come along? I want to meet him for myself. See what all the hype's about."

"NO!" Heiji practically screeched, and Kazuha blinked back in amazement. "I mean –" He calmed down, forcibly, "there's not much to see. He's just a regular guy."

"Why don't you want me coming with?" She glared. "I've been with you on the most gruesome murder cases, but you won't let me come with you to see a _guy_?"

"It's just –" He was growing frustrated. "Kazuha, just – just _stay here_!"

"No!" she yelled back. "I'm sick of this! You're always doing this, always! Constantly going to Tokyo and ditching me to see Kudo-kun! I mean, _come on_! Kudo, Kudo, Kudo! You know what, Heiji, I'm seriously starting to think that you're in love with the guy!"

To say that Heiji was stunned would have been the understatement of the entire century.

"I'm _not_ in love with him," he finally managed. "And the stuff – seriously, it's just – it's just detective stuff."

Kazuha's glare hadn't relented.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. Took a couple of steps closer to her.

Kissed her on the forehead.

"Just stay here and be good, okay?" he called, as he effectively escaped the wrath of her temper. Kazuha gaped like a fish. She had a feeling she was supposed to chase after him and curse him to the ends of the earth. But in the end, by the time she'd regained control of her limbs, she was barely able to stumble across the street, onto a bench and collapse on top of it.

"Idiot," she murmured.

**FIN –**


	22. On a Rainy Afternoon

**Title: **On a Rainy Afternoon…**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #3, jolt!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

There are two kinds of days – regular, good old days, and _those_ days. Heiji, being an unusually intelligent person, had quickly figured out that today was going to be one of _those_ days.

How had he come to this conclusion, you might ask?

Well, there had been the part in the morning where he, still induced by the drug known as sleep, had tripped over his backpack which had been left hastily on the floor, spun around in mad circles around his room, and had, inevitably, fallen flat on his face. That was his first clue.

His second clue came when, right smack _dab_ in the middle of the road, there was a _pop_ and then a _creak_ and his motorcycle jolted to a stop.

His third clue arrived in the form of a loud and very painful punch on the shoulder, accompanied with a shrill shriek courtesy of his best friend, "WHAT DID YOU _DO_!"

Heiji winced at the sheer volume of her screams. "I didn't do anything," he huffed. "It's just –" Here he got off the bike and knelt down, inspecting his front tire. He let out a string of curses. "I'm out of gas."

Kazuha let out a sigh. "And… will you be able to fix it?"

"I don't have a spare," Heiji admitted. "But I have a cell, so I'll just call my dad and he'll be here to pick us up. I don't think we're too far from the city. Maybe an hour away."

"On a motorcycle," came the snappy reply. "And on foot?"

Heiji rolled his eyes. "It'll be fine. I'll call my dad, and we'll just wait out here until he comes. Okay?"

Kazuha grumbled, and Heiji reached in his back pocket for his cell phone. He dialed his home number and waited. "Hey – hey, Dad? It's me. Kazuha and I are stranded out here. I ran out of gas." Pause. "We're about an hour away from the city. We're actually pretty close to the train station – yeah. Okay. We'll meet you there. Thanks. Bye."

Kazuha, having been listening to the conversation, gave him a Look. "We're going to walk to the train station?"

"It's not that far," he retorted. "Look, you can even see it from here."

Kazuha let out a sigh. "It's going to be one of _those_ days, isn't it?"

Heiji shook his head. "Could've told you _that_ much."

-.-

In the middle of pushing at the motorcycle, thunder crackled and the previously blue skies turned an ominous gray.

"No way," Kazuha said, staring furiously up at the skies. "It couldn't possibly –"

_Drip. Drip. Drip. _

It was raining.

-.-

About an hour later, sweating and huffing and puffing after pushing the motorcycle for approximately three miles, the two teenagers collapsed on a bench at the front of the station. Kazuha exhaled, glaring at him the whole while.

"Where's your dad?"

"He said he was still at the station, and that it might be a couple of hours before he could come. And your dad's stuck with him as well," he went on before she could interrupt. She groaned.

"I'm hungry and I'm tired." She was whining, but she had the right to, really. "This isn't fair."

Heiji was silent. "For what it's worth… 'm sorry." The last bit was almost inaudible.

She was quiet for awhile, too. "No," she said, "it's not your fault."

Heiji couldn't help but smirk. "So the one time I actually apologize, you're not going to hold it over my head?"

She turned to look at him. "Well, you know what, maybe it _is_ your fault. You could've brought a spare tire and we'd be home by now. _Dry_."

He opened his mouth to come up with a snappy retort, but all possibly cruel thoughts floated out of his mind when he saw that she was, clearly, very unhappy. She was wet – though she wasn't _so_ soaked that her clothes were _clinging_ to her, and for that, at least, Heiji was grateful – and he'd heard her stomach growl more than a few times, and – was she _shivering_?

It was rather cold, he realized belatedly.

"Come here," he said, gruffly.

She raised gloomy green eyes to him. "What?"

"Come here," he repeated, gesturing to the spot right next to him. Kazuha stared at him, and Heiji's cheeks flushed at the scrutiny. "Bah, you know what, if you don't want to, then –"

She scooted closer to him, shoulders brushing.

_Eep_.

Mechanically, his arm moved to drape around her. She stiffened at the sudden contact and glanced at him with questioning eyes. A jolt of electricity, of warmth, of something else he couldn't quite name sparked something inside him and he felt so _possessive_ all of a sudden.

"Heiji?"

"You're cold," he said, not quite meeting her gaze.

She continued to stare at him for awhile, and although he didn't see it, a sudden light of knowledge glimmered in her eyes and she smiled. She leaned closer to him this time, her lips brushing against the soft fabric of his shirt as she closed her eyes and settled into a comfortable slumber.

"Thank you," she said. He cleared his throat awkwardly and said nothing.

-.-

Forty-five minutes later, Heizo arrived at the station, eyes wandering for a sign of his son. He stopped in front of a certain bench, where a ponytailed girl was snuggled up to a dark-skinned boy. Both were asleep. The boy had his arm draped loosely around the girl, and the girl had an arm draped around his shoulder and neck.

Heizo snorted. Well, it was about time.

**FIN –**

End notes: Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your wonderful reviews!


	23. Wish Upon a Star

**Title: **Wish Upon a Star**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #22, cradle

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

_Warnings_: Is probably slightly AU. Not entirely sure, since we don't really know what's up with Kazuha's mom…

Kazuha was _okay_. She wasn't happy, she wasn't sad. She wasn't very sure what she was feeling, actually. Her toes skimmed the soft sand as she swung softly, back and forth, back and forth. She was alone, and the sun was setting.

Today was Mother's Day. She'd had to endure, again, watching the younger kids present their mothers with handmade cards, where the glue was not quite completely dry yet and the cut-out hearts were lopsided and the handwriting was crude and not quite perfect. She'd had to endure watching as some of the husbands stopped by the florist's and pick up a bouquet of roses or tulips or sunflowers for their wives.

She closed her eyes.

If she really stretched back on her memories, really pushed herself to remember, she could see the vague, hazy outline of a woman – a beautiful, beautiful woman, with green eyes, the same shape as hers but the shade was a little bit lighter, just a little… and her hair was curly and black – _ebony_ – and her skin was soft and pale. She had a beautiful voice, and she would tuck Kazuha in, every night, in her cradle, and she would sing…

_"Rock a bye baby, on the treetops… when the wind blows, the cradle will rock…" _

"Dammit. I'm so over this. I am _so_ over this."

She kicked furiously at the sand, watching as a cloud of the fine grains formed. She was suddenly all-too aware of somebody cursing.

"DAMMIT! That got in my _eye_!"

She jerked in surprise. "He – Heiji?"

"No! I'm the freaking tooth fairy. YES, it's me!"

Kazuha winced. She missed the fact that he'd seen and the previously angry expression on his face melted into one of guilt and almost… protectiveness.

"Let's go home," he murmured, after a length of uncomfortable and awkward silence. He offered her his hand.

She forced a smile. "Yeah. Home." She took his hand, the silver band on her ring finger glinting in the sunset.

-.-

"Are you okay?" Almost immediately after the words left his mouth, Heiji cursed. Well, _duh_. She obviously wasn't.

"Yeah," she said, surprising him with his answer. She was usually outspoken about this type of thing. "I mean, really, I am. I'm… _okay_. Not really happy, not really sad. Kind of numb. I guess."

Heiji shifted to face her on the bed. She was lying flat on her back, an arm over her eyes. The moonlight drifted in through the window, bathing her skin in its milky white glow. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. He'd never been good with words, after all.

"It's just…" She was talking, and she'd taken her arm away from her face, and he could see that her eyes were open and… clear. Just clear. "I thought I was over this. She's gone now. I know. And when I was younger I used to cry about her… you remember." A soft laugh bubbled out of her.

"Yeah." He smiled. "I remember."

"But – I'm _twenty-six_ now. I thought I was over this. I thought – I was over this."

"It's okay," he said, for lack of anything else to say. "I mean – you don't – you don't have to be strong. I'm… here."

She turned to face him, a forlorn expression on her face. She managed to smile. "Yeah. You are, aren't you?"

He pulled her close, kissing each tear that fell. Lying in his arms, _he_ was her cradle, protecting her from the wind and everything else.

**FIN – **


	24. The Wonders of Technology

**Title: **The Wonders of Technology**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #17, kHz (kilohertz)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

"We're going to need walkie-talkies."

"Walkie-talkies?"

"Yes. Go buy one."

Heiji blinked incredulously at his best friend – and wondered exactly why she was his best friend. "You want me to buy a walkie-talkie?"

Kazuha broke her gaze from the window to look at him. "No, I don't want you to buy _a_ walkie-talkie, idiot," she snapped, "obviously we're going to need _two_."

Heiji resisted the urge to swear. "That wasn't the point. You want me to buy walkie-talkies."

"Yes. They're not that expensive, right? I'll pay you back."

Heiji opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and just stared. "Okay. Fine. Specifications?"

"Hm?"

"You know. Any preferences with kHz or MHz or maybe a brand or –"

Kazuha stared. "Get Sony." As if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Heiji considered starting an argument, but thought better of it. "Right."

-.-

So Heiji strolled along the sidewalks, walking into Wal-Mart. Hey, Kazuha wanted a cheap walkie-talkie, she was going to get a cheap walkie-talkie.

Honestly. What was the girl thinking, anyway?

"She _isn't_ thinking. She never _does_," he grumbled as he turned towards the electronics department. Quickly finding what he was looking for, he stopped in front of the selection of walkie-talkies, skimming through the different boxes and brands. Sony, Sony, Sony –

Aha!

Grabbing the box, he nearly sprinted towards the checkout line. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner the insanity would die.

-.-

Kazuha squealed at the sight of the walkie-talkies and ripped the box open. She took one for herself, and thrust the other one in Heiji's direction. Grunting slightly, Heiji took the offered mechanical device and stared at it.

"Let's see how this works." She tinkered with a few buttons and Heiji calmly did the same, finding himself wishing for a drink or a cigarette, or _something_.

"Heiji?"

"Hn."

"Come on. Be a _little_ more enthusiastic."

"Kazuha. We're two feet away from each other, and we're using walkie-talkies. I'm really starting to think that there was something in that miso soup you had earlier."

Kazuha stuck her tongue out at him. "Okay. Go outside then. Downstairs. In the parking lot."

Heiji stared. "Why?"

"Because I said so!"

"Oh, and since when have I listened?"

"Just do it." There was something in her eyes that made it impossible for him to say no, and inwardly, a barrage of curses streamed from his mind.

"Only for five minutes," he relented, stuffed his feet in his shoes, and walked out the door.

-.-

It was humid out, which was exactly why he hadn't wanted to stay outside more than necessary.

"So. I heard that a girl asked you out yesterday."

Heiji nearly dropped the walkie-talkie in shock. How'd she know about that? Nonetheless, it wasn't like he had anything to feel guilty about. So what if he'd been asked out?

"…yeah," he answered, after a beat of silence.

"And what'd you say?"

Heiji blinked. "Well, I refused. I didn't want to go out with her."

"Oh. So, what. She wasn't good enough for you?"

Heiji spluttered. "It wasn't _that_! It was just – well, I didn't even know her! She wasn't even in our class, and why would I go out with someone I barely know?" An idea came to mind, and he raised his voice by a considerable amount, "and you know what? I heard that _you_ were asked out a couple of days ago, too!"

Kazuha made a frustrated noise on the other end. There was some static, and Heiji strained to hear. "Well, that's none of your business!"

"Did you say yes?" Heiji plunged forward.

"Of course not! Do you _see_ me walking around with a boyfriend?"

"So, what? Was your mystery guy not good enough for you?" He threw her words back in her face.

"No." The answer was blunt. "He was stupid and ignorant. All the guys at our school are. And you know what else, _you're_ the dumbest and most ignorant of the lot. AHOU!"

The last word came in loud and clear. Passers-by stared. Heiji mouthed silent apologies while glaring daggers at the walkie-talkie.

"Oh yeah? Well you're so damned _uncute_ that that guy was _lucky_ you refused him. The poor guy would have probably ended up with a hernia by the end of your first date – hah, and I would have liked to see you try to _kiss_ him – "

"And _you_ are the most idiotic, loud-mouthed _jackass_ that I've ever had the misfortune to meet! I don't know what that girl saw in you. I don't even know why I'm still friends with you. And – and, you know what else? I pity the girl _you_ ever ask out. With _your_ luck, a _dead body_ will probably end up nearby!" A pause, a sharp intake of breath, and then, "AND I HATE YOU!"

Heiji glowered, fumbling for words. Then, "_FINE!_ So _that's _how it is! Well you know _what_? I'm asking _you_ out."

Dead, stunned silence.

"What?" Her voice was quiet.

"I asked you out, stupid." He tried to sound nonchalant but he was fidgeting like crazy. And the following words were only supposed to stay in his head, but they fell out of him anyway, "Now go out with me, already, _goddammit_."

"Okay."

Heiji nearly dropped the walkie-talkie again. "Okay?"

"I said, okay."

"Oh. Okay."

"Okay."

Heiji cleared his throat. "Cool."

He grinned. And then –

"SOMEBODY HELP! THIS MAN'S BEEN – BEEN –"

"MURDERED!"

Heiji coughed.

Kazuha snorted. "Told you so."

**FIN –**

End notes: And the insanity continues. There really wasn't any plot or point this time, was there? Ah. Just the way I like it. This line, bloody brilliant line that it is - "_FINE!_ So _that's _how it is! Well you know _what_? I'm asking _you_ out." And then "Now go out with me, already, goddammit." is credited to _**inevitability**_. Thank you, dearie! This one's for you!


	25. Coffee

**Title: **Coffee**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #24, good night

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit! While we're at it, I don't own Grey's Anatomy either. (sigh)

Kazuha was dead-effing-exhausted. It seemed like the educational system was personally out for her ass today. It was only lunch time, and yet it felt like she had been trapped in the building for a good week or two. At this point, she had just received a C on an English book report, a D on a chem lab, and about twenty pages worth of trig homework (well, she dearly hoped it _wasn't_ really twenty pages, but it _seemed_ like it). Her only consolation was the A she'd managed to get on a world history test she'd taken last week, but one A against a C, D, and a mound of homework didn't exactly cheer her up.

She didn't even bother asking Heiji for _his_ scores. Knowing him, he'd probably have gotten all A's. Or even if he hadn't, he certainly wouldn't have had a D in anything.

And so that was the mood she was in on this Monday – _Monday!_ It was only _Monday_! – afternoon, sitting in the cafeteria, staring sourly at her bologna-and-cheese sandwich. Heiji sat across from her, already digging into his own lunch.

After five minutes of silence, the detective glanced up.

"What is it?"

Kazuha snapped out of her daze. "Nothing. I'm just – tired."

Heiji stared at her. "Yeah. You really need to get some sleep. You look like crap."

Kazuha glared.

Heiji casually took a sip of his Coke. "What?"

-.-

"Today has been the crappiest day in – in all of history. And let's face it, history is _full_ of crappy days." Kazuha was seething as she rampaged down the sidewalk, brandishing her thousand-page-chem textbook at anything that even moved the wrong way. Heiji was used to this sort of thing and was unusually silent, though the Looks he kept sending her way were really quite annoying.

"What?" She demanded.

"Nothing."

But she wasn't in the mood for this. He'd been staring at her and throwing her all these Looks and it was just downright unnerving and by hook or crook, she was going to have an answer now.

"You don't just _look_ at someone for no reason, okay? And you have been looking at me all day. What is it?"

"Well – you do look like crap."

Kazuha glowered. "Well, it's been a _crappy_ day."

Heiji eyed her thoughtfully. "Why?"

Wrong question. Kazuha then proceeded to launch into an extremely wordy rant about exactly _why_ her day was so incredibly "crappy."

" – and then at the end of it, that _idiot_, who for some god-only-knows-reason is riding on a _cow_, came out –"

Heiji stared.

" – and then later on, decides to _ambush_ me with a freaking _fork_ –"

Heiji continued to stare.

" – so basically, I had no choice but to stab the moron with my chopsticks –"

Heiji murmured, "That's assault."

Kazuha paused in her ranting.

"Well – _he_ assaulted you. Your part was just self-defense." Heiji shrugged.

Kazuha's eyes went wild – Heiji began to feel just slightly fearful –

"Screw it." She deflated. "I'm going to go home and sleep."

"Good night," he offered, and she shot him a withering glare in reply.

-.-

She ended up staying up until two-thirty A.M. finishing her homework and working on sad attempts at extra credit to raise her grades. Sometimes, she hated the fact that she was such a conscientious student.

-.-

When she got to school in the morning, she sadly reflected on the fact that she'd probably gotten about only four hours of sleep, which most likely wasn't going to help her in staying awake and paying attention in class.

She hadn't had a good night's sleep in _ages_.

Glancing at the clock at the front of her classroom, she saw that there was about ten minutes to the bell, and maybe if she closed her eyes and put her head down on the desk, she might be able to use those extra ten minutes…

She closed her eyes and imagined a white, fluffy pillow and her dark green, fuzzy blanket…

And inhaled the satisfyingly pleasant smell of coffee.

Her eyes flew open.

Oh, lovely. Was she hallucinating now? She rubbed at her eyes. No. She wasn't hallucinating. It was real. There was an actual cup of coffee sitting in front of her, on her desk.

She sat up.

Heiji was leaning against her desk, oh-so-casually sipping his own cup of coffee. Kazuha stared at him. He seemed to grow aware of her scrutiny and turned towards her.

"It's just coffee," he said, nonchalantly.

Kazuha continued to stare. "…oh."

He nodded.

Kazuha cleared her throat. "Ah, why?"

"Because you stayed up late again," Heiji replied, matter-of-factly.

Kazuha, being Kazuha – plus the fact that she was cranky and tired – scowled. "How do you know?"

"Because you didn't button your shirt up all the way, and that's a sign that you're tired. Plus, when I walked in, you had your head down on the desk, most likely to get some extra minutes of sleep, meaning that you obviously didn't get enough last night. Then there's also the matter of the dark circles under your eyes."

"Okay. Okay. Didn't need a dissertation," she muttered in reply, fingers wrapping around the warm cup. "Ooh. Starbucks."

He watched her for awhile, and maybe if Kazuha had paid attention, she would have noticed the concern and possessiveness in his green eyes as he watched her drink the coffee gratefully and almost immediately plop back down on the desk.

"Idiot," he muttered, but she didn't hear.

-.-

And at the end of the day, she leaned against the gym door, feeling considerably calmer than she had in ages. Her homework load was lighter today, having spent the entirety of her study hall period working on whatever she could, and to top it all off, she'd brought home a B and an A on two test papers.

Life was getting just a little bit better.

Trying to appear engrossed in her book, she feigned indifference as Heiji walked past her, sweaty from his kendo practice, clutching a wooden sword in his hand. She also tried to ignore the fact that as he strode purposefully towards the boys' locker room, he had started taking off his shirt.

Kazuha shook her head violently. Bad thoughts. Bad thoughts!

Although, come to think of it, she wondered why he'd decided to go out of his way to buy her coffee that morning. Granted, she hadn't come to school with him that morning, for she'd had aikido practice, but she knew the route he took to school by heart, and there certainly hadn't been a Starbucks on the way…

Meaning that he'd most likely had to spend an extra half-hour to go to the nearest Starbucks. Just for her.

Oh.

She blinked, wondering at the strange sensation bubbling up within her chest.

And found herself standing upright, walking towards the boys' locker room. She fidgeted nervously outside, watching as the room emptied out. Heiji still remained inside, however, and after waiting for a good six or seven minutes, decided that she ought to just barge in there.

And barge in she did.

_Wow_.

He was _shirtless_.

Kazuha gaped. Was this really the same guy she used to take showers with as a kid? _(Oh. Shower. Crap. Don't. Go. There. Too. Late. Already. There. AHHHH.) _

He turned at the sound of her footsteps, and just… looked at her. With that intense, smoldering gaze of his.

She somehow found her voice. "Thanks for the coffee…" Still, unable to break away from his eyes.

In a fluid motion, he crossed the room and was now standing directly in front of her. She had only a split second to register his proximity before her lips were captured by his and he proceeded to kiss her. Thoroughly.

They broke apart.

"You're welcome," he said.

**FIN –**

Couple of notes – firstly, this entire thing was _totally_ inspired and _somewhat_ based on the oh-so-famous Burke/Cristina "coffee scene" from Grey's Anatomy (yes, that show is slowly taking over my life...) So any lines that you may recognize from that show – well, they're not mine. Sadly.

This one is for **Candyland**. Seriously – your 40 Nights and 30 Hugs are what keep me going. Thank you! (I promise that I will eventually read all the fics you just posted and will leave you warm and fuzzy reviews. xD)


	26. Kiss and Run

**Title: **Kiss and Run**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #9, dash

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

Heiji _stared_.

There was something awfully, awfully wrong with this scene. Like, really, seriously wrong. Like, _mouse_ chasing _cat_ wrong (Heiji took a moment to grimace at the simile). Or something.

"Hei-chan," Kaito said, with about as much innocence as the devil himself, "why are you kissing Kazuha-san?"

Heiji:

And before any of them could so much as blink, Heiji had abruptly pushed himself off of the ponytailed girl, stared at her for all of three seconds, and dashed off as fast as his legs could carry him.

Kaito blinked. "Interesting…"

-.-

The moment he stepped into his room, he slammed the door _shut_, ignoring his mother's concerned calls. He was wide-eyed and frazzled and he couldn't think and oh gosh he had actually just _kissed_ Kazuha and that was just _crazy_ and downright freaking _wrong_…

But – gah! That was just weird on some many levels! How had this even _come_ to happen, anyway? It wasn't like he'd meant to kissed her, or wanted to kiss her, or –

So how had it happened? He certainly hadn't gone out of his way to – k – k – ki – _kiss_ her… all he knew was that Kaito had decided to make his grand entrance with one of his flashbombs, and in the dust and cloud and smoke, he hadn't been able to see where he was going, so…

Heiji rummaged in his closet for his katana. Kuroba Kaito was a dead man.

-.-

In his oh-so-innocent hunt for the magician, however, Heiji found himself faced with an obstacle. And not just _any old obstacle_, folks, we're talking big-fat-freaking-pain-in-the-ass obstacle.

This obstacle had a name.

Toyama Kazuha.

Heiji _eep_-ed.

-.-

So, Heiji was a strong guy. Totally not a wimp. Totally. Because he was _brilliant_, darn it, an intelligent and just downright really really smart guy. Heck, he was known throughout Japan as one of the most sharp-witted detectives ever to grace the planet.

And he was running away from a girl.

Damn it all to hell.

"Kazuha," he tried, "I have to go and kill someone. Okay?"

"Not before I kill _you_," she growled, voice growing louder and louder as she drew closer, "now. What the hell have _you_ been on?"

Heiji winced at the volume of her voice, "I am _not_ on anything."

"Really? Could've fooled me." She crossed her arms over her chest. "We need to talk."

Oh, _god_.

"I have to go," he said, "bye."

And he ran off again.

-.-

"This is entirely all _your_ fault," the green-eyed teenager seethed, dangerously close to stabbing the blue-eyed magician with his katana. "Who in the world uses _flash bombs _as a method of transportation?"

"I thought it would be fun," Kaito said, meekly.

"Oho," Heiji growled, "_fun_? I just accidentally _kissed_ my best friend because of _you_ and you think that I'm having _fun_?"

"Well, that's the idea. Usually, when you kiss someone, you –"

Heiji glared.

Kaito grinned from ear to ear and switched subjects. "She's pissed off at you, isn't she?"

Heiji narrowed his eyes. "What makes you say that?"

"Well." Kaito blinked. "I'm not that stupid. And you're not either – oh. You _are_, aren't you?"

Heiji scowled, and was well on his way to unsheathing his katana when Kaito eyed the gesture apprehensively and quickly went on, "well, you see, you… erm, _kissed and ran_."

Heiji's rage dissipated. "What?"

"You kissed her. And than ran. Dashed off. Madly. It was actually quite funny."

"So?" Heiji said, blinking curiously.

Kaito's Poker Face slipped off for _just_ a fraction of a second – "Well, obviously, she's not very pleased. If she kissed you and ran off, what would you think?"

Shrug.

Kaito facefaulted. "You're hopeless."

-.-

Somewhere in the discussion, Heiji caught the words "be _nice_", "gentleman", "flowers", and "don't talk." He wasn't very sure what he was supposed to make out of it.

Walking down the streets, Heiji began to get a bad feeling.

"HATTORI HEIJI!"

Ugh. Crap.

-.-

She had been ranting for about fifteen minutes now. Heiji really couldn't understand what the deal was. So he'd accidentally kissed her. It wasn't like he'd meant for it to happen or anything.

And he certainly hadn't _liked_ it, either.

Right.

"So, tell me." She had her hands on her hips and was glaring at him furiously. "Why did you run? Did you not _like_ it? I'm not worthy of the almighty Hattori Heiji, famous Detective of the West? Seriously. Tell me."

Heiji had had enough of this.

"I don't know why I ran."

That hadn't been the answer she was expecting, evidently. She stared at up, surprised. "What?"

"I guess… I was… afraid?" He scratched at the back of his head, nervous. "Fight or flight, you know? And… erm, I flew."

"You flew."

"…yeah."

She sighed, and he caught a glimpse of an almost hurt and pained expression on her face. And – oh, damn it all, _he'd_ been the cause of that expression, hadn't he?

He came closer.

Three…

Two…

One.

He kissed her. And this time, he didn't run.

**FIN – **

This one is for _Lyn-chan_, who basically inspired the whole thing. I was all, "Neh neh, give me an idea for the theme _dash_." She goes, "Kiss and run!" I say, "SQUEE!"

Hah. Brainstorming. It's a beautiful process.


	27. In which Heiji is desperately clueless

**Title: **In which Heiji is desperately clueless**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #16 – invincible; unrivaled  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit! I don't own Grey's Anatomy, either.

_ "I am** this** close to getting in my car and running you down in the parking lot." _

Heiji cringed, though he tried not to show it. "You don't have a car. And you can't drive." Though they _were_ walking in an abandoned parking lot. And despite the fact that he was about five inches taller than her and at least twenty pounds heavier… well, he wouldn't put it past her.

He began chanting prayers in his head as she turned on him with a completely unsettling glare.

"Minor setback," she said, delicately.

_Please, please, please, I have done _nothing_ but good in this world, tracking down murderers, taking down an evil crime syndicate, please don't let me die in the middle of an empty parking lot… _

She sighed as she paused in the middle of the lot. Heiji instinctively braced himself, watching her hands. Was she going to reach in her bag for some kind of concealed weapon? Granted, her purse wasn't exactly very large, but it could easily fit a pistol…

_This is Kazuha. She's not a murderer, for crying out loud. _

She was reaching in her bag.

She was pulling something out.

"DON'T!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, lunging forward and – well, _tackling_ the ponytailed girl to the ground. He wrestled the purse out of her hands – perhaps not really _wrestled_, for Kazuha was much too surprised to put up much of a fight – and sat up, rummaging through it. "I know I'm a bit of an asshole, but you don't have to kill me, dammit –" and then he realized that her purse was vibrating.

Kazuha snatched the purse out of his hand and pulled out her cellphone. "Yes," she told him, "you _are_ an asshole."

-.-

"So I have no idea what I did," Heiji ranted, pacing back and forth around his room, clutching his cellphone tightly in his hand.

Kudo Shinichi chuckled dryly on the other end. "Knowing you? You did something, Hattori."

"I'm serious!" Heiji insisted. "It's not like we got into a big fight or anything. All that happened was that we were walking home from school, and – and this kid makes some smartass remark about me and 'zuha supposedly _going out_ and then I said something, and then after that, she's completely pissed. Damn mood swings."

A beat of silence on Shinichi's end. "Okay. I'm going to kill myself for even bothering to ask – but what did you say?"

"What did I say?" Heiji scratched vaguely at the back of his head. "Uh, let's see… I said, 'you're a damned ignorant son of a –"

"After that."

"Um…'I wouldn't go out with her even if she was the last girl in the world.' "

Shinichi sighed. "I was afraid of that."

-.-

Girls, Heiji decided, after getting an earful from Shinichi, were much too complicated for him to deal with. Give him a good puzzle or mystery novel any day. He'd rather solve quantum physics problems than deal with – with _girls_.

But, early on this Thursday morning, he found himself standing outside her door.

And it was damn _cold_.

But he was going to talk to her and get her to admit that she was wrong even if it _killed_ him.

She flung open the door, hollering over her shoulder, "I'm leaving now!" She stepped outside, shut the door behind her, and slipped her shoes on. Then she looked up.

"GAH!"

Heiji winced at the volume of her scream and pulled her by the wrist. "Come on."

"What? Why?" She halfheartedly put up a fight, but Heiji was adamant and continued to drag her along the length of the road.

"Are you mad at me?" Inwardly, he swore at the amount of vulnerability evident in his voice.

"…kind of."

"I'm sorry."

Kazuha, who had previously still been struggling against his grip on her wrist, suddenly froze, and her wrist fell limp in his hand.

"What?"

"I said, I'm sorry." He was mumbling. "I didn't mean it. I – I _would_ go out with you if you were the last girl in the world." He pointedly stared at his feet. "I – I would go out with – with you even – even if you _weren't_."

Kazuha was silent.

He apprehensively lifted his head to look at her.

"Okay."

Heiji felt a sudden sensation of dread. "What?"

She smiled at him. "I'll go out with you."

-.-

"Hattori, has anyone ever told you that you're an idiot?"

"Shut up."

Heiji lay on his bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling. "So what do I do now?"

"Well – you could break up with her."

"What? No!"

Heiji could practically _feel_ the smirk on the eastern detective's face. "So you want to go out with her. Right?"

"I – I don't – I don't know."

"Then just stay with her. You were going to ask her out eventually."

"You don't know that."

Shinichi snorted. "Please. Even Mouri Kogorou knew."

Heiji glared at the phone. "Look. It's not that. I mean – okay, I – I _like_ her, you know? But I wasn't exactly… _ready_… for this sort of thing. Not yet. And now I'm – well, I'm –"

"You're super-glued to her."

"No, not –"

"Handcuffed?"

Heiji resisted the urge to throw the phone against the wall. "Shut up."

-.-

"What's wrong with you?" Kazuha was walking a little bit _closer_ to him than usual. Heiji was sweating. Profusely.

"Ah – nothing," he lied. "A little… tired."

What was he going to _do_?

"I was wondering, though," he went on, swallowing, "uh, now that we're… d – da – d –"

"Dating," supplied Kazuha, helpfully.

"Right. That." Heiji wished he had his katana. Maybe he could slit his own throat. "What are – what are things going to – erm – you know… be like?"

"Be like?" Kazuha tapped a finger to her chin. "I don't know. Probably the same, right? We were always together, weren't we?"

Well. Now that certainly was unexpected.

"Really?" Heiji said, eyebrows raised. "Nothing's going to change?"

"…no." Kazuha tilted her head to the side, wonderingly.

Heiji felt a surge of relief as he stared up at the sky. _"Thank you. _I thought I was going to have to break up with you!"

Dead silence.

"What?" Kazuha hissed, looming threateningly over him.

-.-

He arrived home with more than a few lumps on his head. His father gazed at him questioningly, but decided not to pry. For the third night in a row, Heiji picked up his cell phone and called Shinichi.

"I heard," was the greeting from the other line.

"Already?" Heiji wasn't surprised. Just resigned.

Shinichi coughed. "Kazuha-san called Ran about two hours ago, ranting about the 'uncivilation and downright stupidity of men in general.' I think everybody in Tokyo knows."

"She didn't break up with me, though," Heiji murmured.

Shinichi snorted. "If Kazuha-san left you every single time you did something stupid, she would have kissed you goodbye a long time ago."

"Thank you," Heiji said, sarcastically, "you're a wonderful friend. Really."

-.-

He sat on top of his desk the next Monday morning, waiting for her to come in. She'd apparently left her house earlier than usual that morning, for when he'd shown up at her door, her father had answered and told him she'd already left. Avoiding him, Heiji assumed.

She walked in.

Primly sat in her seat, directly in front of his.

Deliberately ignoring him.

Heiji sighed.

It was funny, really. With others, he was always invincible, always unrivaled. He was unafraid. But with her, everything was opposite and he always found himself on the losing side.

She turned to face him. "See you after school at the front gates. We'll go to the ice cream parlor."

Heiji blinked.

And let out a cross between a grunt and a snort. "Fine."

Inside, he was doing cartwheels.

**FIN – **

Haha. I guess I like writing a whipped!Heiji? 'tis much fun. (Yeah. This was a complete and total PWP, wasn't it? Oh well. 3 more Kisses to go!) Oh – and the first line in this piece, about running Heiji down in the parking lot? Taken from Grey's Anatomy. (Of course, of course...)


	28. Just Another Day at the Hospital

**Title: **Just Another Day at the Hospital**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #18 – "say ahh…"  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit!

Heiji's nineteenth birthday was celebrated at the hospital. No cakes. No birthday parties. No balloons, no streamers, not even a single _gift_.

What he _did_ have, however, was a hysterically sobbing ponytailed girl at his bedside, screaming out frantic and frenzied apologies while the nurses shot her odd looks and mouthed the words, _'psych consult'_ when they thought nobody was listening.

Oh. And the blue-eyed couple that looked like they were at a complete lost for what to do or say. Heiji noticed that Kudo _still_ hadn't let go of the damn camera, however.

He fell back against his pillows and sighed. Once upon a time, his life was relatively normal. Once upon a time…

-.-

It had started earlier that day in school. He had been oh-so-innocently walking down the halls, dutifully on his way to his next class, like the good honor student he was, when, all of a sudden –

"Heiji!"

Heiji not-so-subtly twitched. "…Kazuha."

She smiled at him. "I have cookies for you!"

Heiji stared apprehensively at the bag she was offering him. Did he _really_ want that? He tried to remember the quality of Kazuha's cooking skills. From what he remembered – hey, it wasn't like she cooked for him very often – they _were_ rather decent… however, her baking skills were decidedly… in need of work.

He stared at a particular cookie, which was bubbling.

"No, thanks," he said, firmly. "I have to go to class."

Kazuha's eyes flashed.

"Say ahh," she tried again.

"…no."

"IF YOU DON'T EAT THE DAMN COOKIES I'LL SHOVE 'EM UP YOUR –"

By this time, everybody was staring at them.

Heiji took the opportunity to escape. He, however, being the very smart boy he was, knew that this was definitely far from over.

-.-

"It's unfair, Ran-chan," Kazuha complained into her phone as she walked home alone that day, having ditched Heiji at kendo practice. Not like she was in the mood for walking home with him _today_, at any rate. "He didn't even _try_ them. If he actually did try them and then fell over and died of food poisoning, then yes, I'd apologize and feel bad. But he didn't even try them!"

Ran was quiet for awhile. "Well. You could force-feed him."

Kazuha blinked. "How?"

"Mouth-to-mouth."

-.-

It was completely insane. And she knew this. It was seriously and utterly _insane_ and she didn't even know if she would be _alive_ after she pulled this off. If she pulled it off. No, no, not that Heiji would ever dare to hurt her – but she'd probably die of embarrassment first.

So then she shouldn't do it, right? There was only a lot of pain and hurt and hell waiting for her in the end.

"Stop it."

His voice was gruff, and maybe others would have interpreted it as being rude. But Kazuha was Kazuha, and she knew better. "Stop… what?"

"Staring at me." He looked decidedly uncomfortable. "It's creeping me out."

"Ah. Okay." She fiddled around with the cookies in her bag. They were a day old now, she realized, perhaps a little guiltily, but hey, if he had eaten them in the first place, he could have had them while they were fresh and still _hot_.

Why was she so nervous?

"I have something for you." He turned at her words, a slightly surprised look on his face. "Seriously. So – take it."

She held out the bag of cookies.

He didn't move.

Her temper was beginning to snap.

"I don't want it."

Oh. Oh. _Oh_. It was _on_ now.

Striding purposefully towards him, she reached out a hand and clamped his nose shut. He flailed around in the air for a few seconds, looking like a fish out of water, and she waited patiently for him to open his mouth.

And open his mouth he did.

Smirking, she reached into the bag of cookies and retrieved a particularly large one. She slipped it into his mouth and forcefully closed his mouth shut. And before you could even think 'one-plus-one-equals-two' she was already leaning up to him, effectively sealing his way out.

She was going to _kiss_ him.

She turned red. Not – well, not _kiss_, really, just – _mouth to mouth_. Completely different things.

Kazuha leaned close to him, eyes shut.

And her lips landed on his cheek.

His damn _cheek_.

Good god. She couldn't even aim for his lips properly, could she. She uneasily opened her eyes to watch for a reaction.

Heiji _froze_…

Clutched at his throat…

And began convulsing.

Kazuha's eyes widened. "You – you're – you're CHOKING!"

-.-

From their oh-so-sneaky vantage point, Shinichi and Ran watched the entire scene play out objectively, Shinichi holding a video camera calmly in one hand.

"Should we help?" Ran asked, finally.

"Mm," Shinichi said absently, zooming in on Heiji's interestingly purple face, "Kazuha-san's a smart girl. I'm sure she knows the Heimlich."

"…I think Hattori-kun just stopped moving."

"… fine."

-.-

And that was how his nineteenth birthday had ended up. Nobody had even bothered to _greet_ him, Heiji thought bitterly, and now he was stuck in this hospital because he had nearly _choked_ to death – and frankly, he was surprised he hadn't ruptured his esophagus in that whole mess – and because he had gone into a temporary state of shock.

Heiji sighed.

"For what it's worth," he said, mumbling slightly, "your cookies… weren't that bad."

Kazuha glanced up, a slight smile on her face. "Re – really?"

Heiji pointedly avoided her gaze. "Really."

She beamed.

Heiji turned red.

Shinichi caught everything on camera and auctioned off video tapes and DVDs to their entire school.

And Heiji flushed all of his Sherlock Holmes books down the toilet.

All in all, it was a happy ending. Really.

**FIN – **


	29. In which stalking ensues

**Title: **In which stalking ensues**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #20 – the road home  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit! (And as usual, Grey's Anatomy belongs to the brilliant minds of – well, not me. Bah.)

_This story is also largely inspired by Something Came Up by Chl Cornell. It's a reeally hilarious Ryoma/Sakuno fic, for those of you that are into the Prince of Tennis fandom. _

Heiji had had a prickling feeling for quite some time now. And that was what it was. A _prickling_ feeling. Running up and down his spine. It was quite uncomfortable and he, to frankly put it, hated it. However, what really got to him was the fact that he didn't know the cause of said prickling. And being the detective that he was – well, that was just plain annoying now.

It was a slow Sunday morning, and he was in the midst of finishing up his English homework – not that it took him very long or gave him a really hard time or anything – when it finally came to him, what this prickling feeling meant.

It was the absence of a certain ponytailed girl.

Heiji leaned back against the chair, dazed. Come to think of it… they hadn't really been spending a whole lot of time together lately, had they? Oh, sure, they still walked to school together, and they still walked back home together, but other than that… nothing. He hung out with his guy friends, she hung out with her girl friends.

And… wasn't that what he wanted? He'd been complaining for some time now that she followed him around way too much for his comfort. Always getting in his way. Always pointing out silly, unnecessary things. Always pissing him off. It ought to be a _good_ thing that she was gone.

Right?

Right. Of course. Heiji leaned back forward and continued his exercises on adverbs and adjectives.

He tried to concentrate, he really did.

But after the span of an _enormously_ lengthy three-and-a-half minutes, the dark-skinned detective could take it no longer. He leapt up from his chair, sprung towards the door, and off he went, in search of the source of his problems.

-.-

Dammit.

That was the _third_ twig that had poked him in the arm now. At this rate, he was going to end up stomping home, covered in cuts and scratches.

And _she_ was completely clueless, utterly oblivious. As usual, he thought, bitterly. He'd been trailing them for about an hour now, and he had yet to really hear anything interesting. How about something like, _Hmm, I kind of miss hanging out with Heiji. I think I'll go see how he is. Bye! _

Hmph.

No. She was laughing and smiling and happily chattering away with her friends.

And he was _pissed_.

Because – well – how _dare_ she be happy without him! He was supposed to be the core of her existence, her very reason for living, for even _daring_ to breathe. She was supposed to be miserable without him and god forbid that she could actually live out her life without stopping to miss him!

She was _such_ a crappy friend.

And Heiji had every intention of marching up to the girl, screaming his head off, going into Evil-Demon-Head-of-Doom mode, and letting her know of all of her shortcomings as his friend. Because after all, he _was_ the Detective of the West, and he couldn't just hang out with _anyone_, now.

But he did have an image to uphold, and it wouldn't do to randomly spring out of the bushes and blather on and on and on while foaming at the mouth.

So he waited.

And then it started to rain.

-.-

Two hours later, fully soaked, Heiji sat on the muddy earth – who cared anyway? He was already soaked, a little mud wouldn't hurt – while glaring murderously at his so-called "best friend" who was still happy and zippy and chipper. He yearned to throw an empty can of soda at her – he'd gotten thirsty – but couldn't bring himself to do it.

When were they ever going to _leave_? They'd been shopping for, what, three hours now? And they'd gotten into at least twenty different stores; their arms laden with bags showed the fruits of their labor.

"RARGHHHH!" he finally yelled, pounding at the damp mud.

One of Kazuha's friends turned. "Did you hear that?" she asked, curiously.

Kazuha smiled. "Nope."

-.-

Another half-hour had passed and Heiji was face-down on the dirt. If someone had walked by, it would have looked like he was kissing the dirt. Hah. Kudo would laugh his face off. As would Kuroba. And then they would both take pictures.

Didn't he have any _normal_ friends left?

"Oh, that was fun." One of the girls, one with long curly hair down to the middle of her back, stretched luxuriously. "All right then, Kazuha-chan. I have to be going home soon, or my mom will kill me…"

"Me too," the second girl said, "I've got to finish up some homework."

Kazuha smiled serenely. "Of course. Thanks for coming with me today, guys."

Heiji peered through the leaves, breathing a long sigh of relief as the two girls turned at the intersection. Kazuha swung her bags lightly back and forth, crossing the street. She was going home. He knew this path like it was the back of his hand.

Maybe he should jump out now, he thought, but then decided against it. They were at a particularly busy intersection, crowds filling the streets despite the rain. He shivered as his soaked clothes clung to him, but ignored the chill and concentrated on the ponytailed girl. All right. When they got to a deserted area, _then_ he'd get her…

-.-

Kazuha had to be the slowest walker in the entire world.

Okay. It had been twenty minutes now, and she was _still_ in the busy streets, not anywhere closer to a more quiet environment. At this rate, it was going to take another hour before she even got back to their neighborhood.

He sneezed.

She turned her head slightly, and for a moment Heiji thought she'd actually seen him. But then she turned away and hummed a song under her breath. Heiji felt like strangling her.

-.-

Finally. They were about ten minutes from home now, and the streets were considerably emptier than they had been when they were both downtown. Heiji made to get up, ready and raring to finally give Kazuha a piece of her mind.

She went first, however.

"What do you want, Heiji?" she called loudly over her shoulder, never once stopping.

Heiji, in all of his surprise, fell flat on the cement. For the second time that day, he was kissing the ground. Kazuha glanced around to look at him, rolled her eyes, and walked on.

"I want – I –" Heiji was stammering. Gah. He did not stammer. He just didn't. He was going to stop now. Yes. "I want to know where you've been, that's what!"

Kazuha snorted. Loudly. Even four feet away from him, he heard it. "You've been following me around the entire afternoon. You really need to know?"

Good point. But still, "that's not what I mean! We've barely talked to each other this past – this past month!"

She laughed. "Miss me much?"

Heiji, against his will, turned red. "N – No! It's just –"

"I've just been busy," she said, truthfully. "And come on, really. You know you like it better without me anyway. You were always complaining about me getting in your way, so, hey, aren't I just doing the both of us a favor?"

He wasn't quite sure what he was thinking.

But before the thought fully registered in his mind, he found himself standing directly in front of her, his eyes locked on hers.

"Go out with me," he said.

She stared at him thoughtfully.

"No," she replied.

-.-

He was, for the first time in his life, dumbfounded. The proper Heiji-thing to do at this point, he realized, would be to blow up and start yelling at her. But for some reason, he couldn't. He… He couldn't bring himself to. And standing on the sidewalk as cars whizzed past on the streets, he watched her walk away.

-.-

But that didn't last long. The next day – Monday – he was in top form, ready to confront her. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to say or why this was bothering him so much, but that wasn't important. What was important was that he was going to find her, yell at her, and get her to say yes. Or at least find out why she'd said no. He preferred the former.

He stared at her during English class, in the middle of finishing up the homework he hadn't been able to finish yesterday. He stared at her during physics, halfheartedly listening to the lecture on the theory of relativity. He stared at her during calculus, barely looking at the board to see how the problem had been solved. He stared at her during history, hand automatically skimming across the sheet of paper as he took notes on the Cold War.

He itched to throw his pencil at her.

-.-

He wasn't able to get her alone during school, but after school was another matter. She was going straight home today, he knew, and despite the fact that he had kendo practice, he chose to skip.

He nonchalantly leaned against a light post, pretending to be engrossed in an Ellery Queen novel. She cheerily walked past him, humming something under her breath.

Once she'd gotten a respectable distance away, he stepped out of his hiding spot, and carefully began to tiptoe his way over to her. When he'd gotten close enough to reach out and tap her on the shoulder, he opened his mouth and –

_"You're stalking me. Stop it." _

He nearly fell over again, but luckily managed to catch his balance.

"Wh – I am not!" he sputtered, indignant.

"You've been staring at me all day," she said, matter-of-factly, "and now, you're following me home."

"I am not!" he repeated. "I wasn't staring at you. And I'm not following you. I'm going home. We just happen to be going in the same direction."

She didn't miss a beat. "Don't you have practice?"

"Canceled," he lied smoothly.

"Ah. I see." And she continued to walk on.

They went on in this way for several minutes until Heiji could stand it no longer and burst out, "WHY?"

She jumped slightly and had the nerve to look surprised. "Why… what?"

"Why won't you go _out_ with me, dammit!"

Kazuha stared at him and raised an eyebrow. "Because I don't want to. Anyway, why are _you_ suddenly so interested in me? Just because I got a life and moved on? Grow up, Heiji."

"I'm _not_ interested –"

"Then why are you asking me out?"

"I just – it's just – THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"

"Then what is?" She was just – _looking_ at him, eyes slightly narrowed, unsure of what to expect from him. "What are you going on about?"

"I don't like _change_." There, he'd said it. "All my life, _you're_ the one that's always been stalking me, following me around everywhere I went, being an eternal pain in the ass. And now you decide that you can just all of a sudden change things? I don't think so! No, I don't think so."

"I'm saying that I've had enough." There was something odd about the quality of her voice, but Heiji couldn't quite place his finger on it. "We're _different_, Heiji, haven't you realized it? You're smart, you're brilliant, easily at the top of the class. My brain doesn't work that way. You're obsessed with solving mysteries. I couldn't care less. Your idea of fun is curling up with an Ellery Queen book. My idea of fun is staying at least twenty feet away from any kind of mystery novel at all times. Starting to get the picture yet, Mr. Detective?"

"That's never mattered before!" He was practically in hysterics and he couldn't even figure out _why_ this was bugging him so much. "I thought you _liked_ me!"

"Well, of course I do," Kazuha said, indifferently, much with the air of someone reciting Newton's law of inertia, "we're childhood friends and our parents are friends and, you know, it was fun –"

"I know what this is," Heiji cut in suddenly, eyes very bright, "this is _reverse psychology_, isn't it."

Kazuha stared at him. "What?"

"That's what this is. You're trying to convince me that you're _not_ interested in me so that I, in turn, will be interested in _you_. Reverse psychology. I didn't know you liked me that much, but I'm fla –"

"In your dreams, you egotistical bastard," she snorted, and proceeded to walk away. But Heiji had other things on his mind, and his hand reached out to grab her wrist. She turned quickly to shoot him a questioning and threatening gaze.

"We," he began, advancing towards her, going forward, forward, forward, until her back was firmly pressed against a brick wall, "have been together for way too long to stop now."

Kazuha squirmed. "Heiji –"

He was unfazed. "We," he said, cornering her, looming over her, his right hand reaching up to push against the wall, over her head, "have gone through too much crap to just let everything die now."

He smirked when he noticed the pink flush on her cheeks. "So," he said, eyes never leaving hers, drawing closer and closer until their faces were dangerous inches apart, "go on, then. Can you still tell me that you don't want to go out with me?"

She opened her mouth.

"I have homework," she said, hastily. Heiji was too shocked to say anything, and allowed her to flee.

-.-

Kazuha collapsed on her bed, schoolbooks forgotten on her desk, backpack thrown carelessly on the floor. She buried her face in her pillow and took deep breaths.

What was the matter with her? Hadn't she been dreaming of this occasion for – for months, for _years_, even? So why was it that when That Idiot finally decided to use his brain, she couldn't bring herself to say yes?

But it would never last, she thought, repressing a sigh, the only reason he wants her _now_ is because now, she's a _challenge_, and Hattori Heiji never backed down from a challenge. Once he caught her, he would set her free, and that would just hurt too much.

-.-

Heiji, being Heiji, knew that today was Kazuha's turn for cleaning duty. And once all the students and the teacher had left, he strode back inside the room, subtly locked the door behind him, and cleared his throat.

Kazuha spared him a two second glance before returning to mopping up the floor. But her fingers had clenched around the mop, and hope built up in him. A reaction was a good thing, right?

"Kazuha." His voice was curt, down-to-business.

"Heiji." As was hers.

He remembered that he was supposed to stay calm. And not do anything stupid. Right. Don't do anything stupid, don't do anything stupid…

And so he sat there. Watching her as she mopped up the floors, straightened the desks, erased the chalkboards. Not a word was said between them, but none were needed. In the end, it was just the two of them.

"Do you hate me?" he finally asked.

He watched as her back stiffened. "…no," she said, and he knew she was telling the truth because when she lied she had a habit of fingering the ends of her ponytail or tugging at the hem of her shirt, and she did neither, "I don't."

"Oh." He had been so sure that she was going to say yes. "Well. Good."

Silence.

"Do… Do you hate me?" she ventured to ask him now.

He stopped to think. She fidgeted. "No," came his answer. "I'm just confused."

A smile. "Well, that's a first."

He smiled back, just a little. "You're the first to do so."

"And is that a good thing?"

"I haven't figured that out yet."

"Good. Keeps things interesting that way."

Fifteen minutes came and went, and at the end of that time, Kazuha had finished her duties. Now, she had slung her backpack over her shoulder and was on her way to exiting the room.

She stopped.

Heiji tensed.

"The door's locked," she said, back facing him.

Heiji nodded, knowing that she couldn't see him. "Yes."

She watched as her left hand gathered a fistful of her skirt. "And why is it locked?"

"Because we need to talk."

"Okay. Go. Talk."

"Why won't you go out with me?" He was oddly quiet, he realized, but maybe that was because he knew that yelling and screaming would get him nowhere this time. This was different, strangely so.

"I don't want to." She still wasn't looking at him.

"Yes. I get that. _Why_?"

"Does it really matter? What matters is that I'm not going to, and I never will, I won't, I won't –"

In a flash, he'd gotten up from his desk, marched over to her in forceful, long strides, turned her around to face him,and pinned her effectively against the door. His shockingly green eyes were locked on hers, and he wouldn't look away.

"Even if you say that, I'm not going to go away."

He listened as her breathing grew irregular and watched as her eyes grew wide.

"Because I _like_ you." The words sounded funny to his own ears, and part of him was still incredulous that he'd actually figured it out and was actually saying it to her. But the prospect of losing her had awakened some sort of primal instinct in him, and he barreled on, "do you get it? I like you. And maybe, one day, if you'll let me, I'll love you. But I'm not going to force you into anything because that's not what I want."

He stopped and simply looked at her.

"That's it." He stepped away from her, giving her ample breathing room. "You can leave now if you want. You know how to unlock the door, I'm sure." He moved to the other side of the room. This time his back was facing hers.

He knew what was going to happen. He saw it coming. But the sound of her footsteps quickly leaving the room and the noise she made when slamming the door shut still sent a mad, chilly sensation through his being.

-.-

Heiji was sulking.

And he did very little to hide that fact. He'd finished his homework ages ago – he supposed the blind rage he was in had helped him to just charge straight on through the formulas and readings – and was sitting in front of the T.V., glaring every single time he switched to a soap opera, in which an excessively muscular man and a painfully thin woman would be making out (which was quite often, as it was primetime).

And dammit, he was _cold_. Had his parents forgotten to pay the heating bill or something? He considered getting a jacket or maybe an extra blanket, but was too lazy to move from his spot.

Then someone rang the doorbell.

Heiji grumbled as he grudgingly pulled himself up from the couch and stumbled to the front of his house.

He opened the door.

Kazuha shot him a quick look before brushing past him and taking off her shoes. Making herself right at home, she settled herself on the couch, eyes glued to the screen.

Heiji stared.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed before he decided to slowly walk over to the couch and sit down next to her. There were no words exchanged between the two of them. They just sat there, watching the show.

Five minutes into the next program, Heiji started when he felt a warm weight on his shoulder. He glanced down and saw that _she_ had settled herself comfortably in his side. He could tell that she knew he was looking at him; she had tensed up. He gingerly placed an arm around her shoulder.

He ripped his eyes away from her and continued to watch the show, a small and almost invisible smile on his lips. He wondered why it was so warm all of a sudden.

**FIN –**

Lots of notes here, folks. Curse of being a firm believer in handing out credit where credit is due? Hahhh.

Again, basic plotline and the "reverse psychology" idea taken from _Something Came Up _by _Chl Cornell_, which is a Ryoma/Sakuno fic, from Prince of Tennis.

The idea Kazuha has of Heiji pursuing her only because she's a _challenge_ is taken – and messed around with horribly – from _Rain Delay_ by _EllipsesBandit_, which is a Tezuka/Fuji fic from Prince of Tennis (have we noticed another obsession here?)

_"You're stalking me. Stop it." _is yet another line from Grey's Anatomy. Why am I obsessed? I dunno. Curse of being a med student? Hah.

This one is for _Lyn-chan_.


	30. Sweet Surrender

**Title: **Sweet Surrender**  
Author:** fireblazie**  
Pairing: **Heiji/Kazuha**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Theme:** #30 - kiss  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Detective Conan, nor do I own any songs that are used in this chapter. I'm a poor, starving author.

_This story was heavily inspired by Tokyo Lights by embyr81788. Gorgeous Tezuka/Fuji fic, from Prince of Tennis and Road by yuki scorpio. _

In the end, neither of them ever said anything about their feelings. There was too much involved, too many other things to do, too many things to risk. Oh, they were still friends, of course, regularly spending their days together, chattering about homework and other idle things. But thoughts of "love" and "marriage" and "forever" hardly crossed their minds anymore.

And if someone were to ask them exactly _whose_ idea it was to share an apartment in downtown Tokyo while attending separate universities, well, they wouldn't have an answer. Only that it felt right, somehow, because after all, they _were_ childhood friends and they _did_ know almost everything there was to know about each other. They each dutifully paid their half of the rent, took turns buying groceries, took turns cleaning the rooms, took turns cooking. It was a comfortable living arrangement, one that satisfied both of their respective needs.

It made sense to both of them, and both of them were considerably content with their living space. That was all that mattered, in the end, wasn't it?

-.-

_This may never start_

_We could fall apart_

_And I'd be your memory._

_Lost your sense of fear_

_Feelings insincere_

_Can I be your memory?_

-.-

"It's your turn to do laundry," Kazuha informs him, plopping her laundry basket in front of him. An annoyed scowl flitters over his face as he cranes his neck to watch the television, which she has deliberately blocked.

"I'll do it later," he answers, swatting at her.

"No, you'll do it now," she replies, marching over to the television and turning it off. She expertly ignores the curses and yelps that erupt from her roommate's mouth. "I have no more clean clothes left, and I _need_ clean clothes. Unlike you, I happen to change my clothes every day."

Heiji looks like he is about to release a string of colorful – well, more colorful than usual – words when she arches an eyebrow and says, lightly, "Well, I suppose you could clean out the toilet bowls instead…"

He grumbles and picks up her laundry basket, stomping loudly for all the world to hear. Kazuha smirks when she hears their downstairs neighbor scream at them to shut-up-or-I'll-come-up-there-_again_. Heiji stomps even louder.

-.-

There's something strangely relaxing about watching Heiji fold the laundry. He always sits on the left end of the couch and places each of their clothing in separate piles. His is always the one closer to him, while hers is the one he has to stretch in order to reach.

Sometimes she'll question why she watches him out of the corner of her eye when she really should be studying for her chemistry exam, but she never quite gets to the answer.

-.-

He is distracted from reading when he hears her frustrated groans. He watches, amused, as she attempts to create a hole in her math textbook as she proceeds to stab it with her mechanical pencil. He doesn't say anything as she stands up, mutters unpleasant things under her breath, and stalks off towards the kitchen. Minutes later, the scent of hot chocolate filters into the room.

He contemplates helping her with the offending piece of homework, but decides that no, he likes his sanity intact, thank you very much.

He doesn't react as she walks back into the room, much calmer than before. By this time, he's already back into his reading, and doesn't look up as she takes her seat once more. He doesn't _need_ to see that she holds two mugs of hot chocolate; he already knows.

She places his mug in front of him, on his right side, as she takes a sip from her own cup. He murmurs something that passes for a thank-you and reads on, intent on finishing the chapter.

He finishes within minutes, closes the book, and reaches for his mug. Before he takes a sip, he smirks, "The answer is thirty-four," and she glares sourly at him.

-.-

"I've gained weight," she announces tersely as she strides into the living room, a no-nonsense expression on her face. He barely looks up, not really very interested.

But then she sits down next to him, and he feels her eyes boring holes into his skull, and although he regrets it, asks, "How much?"

"Five pounds."

A pause. "It's not noticeable."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"I think it is," she plows on, eyeing the pint of ice cream Heiji had been snacking on with cold, cold eyes, "my shirts are a little tighter than usual."

"It's not noticeable," he repeats, because it's the truth.

She sighs before delicately snatching the pint of cinnamon-flavored ice cream from him. She doesn't even pause before sticking the spoon in her mouth, fully aware that the spoon had been in her roommate's mouth just seconds before.

"So," she says, frowning at him as he takes the spoon from her and licks it clean, "would you still live with me if I gained fifty pounds, grew a third eye, and had acne all over my face?"

Heiji continues to lick the spoon clean and doesn't look at her when he replies.

"I'm not that shallow."

She shoots him a Look, one that has made lesser men cry. "That's not an answer."

"It is to me."

She considers starting a fight, just for old times' sake. It would be so easy, she realizes, an insult here, an insult there, and they would be performing the dance of forgotten times.

But he surprises her, like he always does.

"I'd live with you even if you were two-hundred-and-fifty pounds, had acne over every millimeter of your face, had six arms, and had ADD." He takes the carton of ice cream from her, and she stares at him.

Then snorts. "How romantic," though she doesn't really feel relieved.

-.-

She stops and glances, at the book sitting on the table. She picks it up, _War and Peace_, by Leo Tolstoy, and idly flips through the pages.

She's seen him reading this before, for his English class. She's never even touched the book. She frowns and attempts to read through the tiny print, but gives up almost immediately.

He walks back into the room at that moment and sees the book in her hands. "It's pretty good," he comments.

"I'm sure it is," she answers, quietly, and puts the book down.

-.-

He is half-asleep when he hears his door creak open, a gust of wind passing over his hair. He doesn't open his eyes, doesn't tense, doesn't say a word when she slips in behind him on the bed, forehead pressed against his shoulder. He waits to see if she will slip underneath the covers as well, but nothing happens, no movement, none. Her weight settles comfortably at his back, and he falls asleep, dreaming of nothing.

She leaves before the crack of dawn. He wakes up around nine, and wonders why the room feels so empty.

-.-

The scent of freshly cooked rice wafts across the apartment, filling his nostrils, and his stomach growls although it shouldn't, because he's _mad_ at her, he's mad, mad, mad, and if he goes out there to eat, then he'll see her, and they'll talk, and they'll probably make up, because that's what they _do_, but that's the problem, he doesn't _want_ to make up with her, not yet, not now, right now he wants to wallow in his anger.

He doesn't remember what it is that they're fighting about. He never does. But this is their _dance_, this is their _song_, they are simply people living within the euphony, doing what the conductor tells them to do.

He's a smart person, this he knows. And he knows that he'll only last twenty minutes, twenty-five tops, before he'll mutter angry curses under his breath, stalk towards the door, throw it open, pull out a chair so loudly and forcefully that it shrieks against the floor. He also knows that he will sit there, glaring at nothing in particular, and she will remain in the kitchen for exactly three minutes before walking out to the table and placing the dishes in front of him. And he knows that the meal will be silent; the clanging of silverware against porcelain plates will echo harshly throughout the apartment.

In addition, he knows that he will be the first to leave the table and he will go into the kitchen, stand in front of the sink, and wash his plates. She will follow soon after, depositing her own plates in the sink and leaving him to wash them for her. He'll think about complaining, he will consider yelling at her to start another round of their argument, but in the end, he won't, and he'll let her go to brush her teeth because he knows that she can't stand not brushing her teeth immediately after a meal.

Hours will pass before it's late and the homework is finished, for tonight, and it is time to go to bed. She will go upstairs first, and he will follow. He will then finally brush his teeth and she will retreat into her room to change for bed. And he knows, he knows, he _knows_ that just as he exits the bathroom and starts towards his own room, she will come out of hers, and they will look at each other, listen to the silence, and stare.

He will be the one to break the silence first, he _knows_.

"Good night."

-.-

He enjoys mornings with her most of all.

They've known each other long enough to not have to worry about appearances at six in the morning. He's the early riser, always climbing out of bed dutifully when his alarm clock buzzes. She's the exact opposite, burying her head under her pillow in a desperate attempt to ignore the incessant ringing, not getting out of bed until the last possible minute.

He's never surprised when she stumbles out of her room, hair incredibly tousled, clothes immensely wrinkled. In fact, he'll smile to himself, sipping a cup of tea, and listen as she bangs around the bathroom, tripping and cursing the whole way. Later, she'll emerge from the bathroom, smelling of vanilla and soap, looking a tad more respectable.

And then, inevitably – the bruises on her arms from her clumsy adventures in the bathroom while still semi-conscious will catch his eye, and he'll sigh, and get out the first-aid kit.

She'll protest, of course, "It's fine, it's fine, it's no big deal."

It's an old ritual. He'll brush her off. "If you walk out of this apartment like that, people will think I'm abusing you."

She'll snort. "Oh, _please_."

But in the end, she'll relent, and allow his fingers to brush across fresh expanses of pale, creamy skin, applying ointments and band-aids and ice packs. And he won't wonder – won't _allow _himself to wonder – why he treasures the sensation of his fingers against her skin.

-.-

She stands there, pure disbelief etched across her face.

"What," she begins, "is _that_?"

"This," he replies, deliberately pausing, obviously relishing the moment, "is a dog."

"No, I thought it was a _duck_." She glares. "Why is there a dog in the apartment?"

"Well, I picked it up, of course."

"From the _streets_?"

"No." He looks at her as though she has three heads. "From the _pound_, obviously."

"From the pound?" Then there's a feeling of compassion tugging at her chest. She warily approaches the dog – to say that it is "dirty" would be a complete understatement.

"I know he's not much to look at now, but I'll give him a bath, and he'll be the most handsome dog on the block." He grins proudly as he scratches the dog behind its ears. "Right, boy?"

She should've said no, really. Because no matter how intelligent Heiji is, he isn't exactly the most responsible person in the world, and she _knows_ that within weeks, he'll be dumping all the responsibility on her, he'll make her walk the dog in the morning, make her feed the dog, make her clean after the dog.

"And he won't bother you at all, because he'll sleep in my room, and I'll clean him and feed him. I'm serious. You won't even know he's here."

She might have laughed at the situation – one would have thought that Heiji was her _son_, from the way he was pleading and begging.

"Oh, _fine_," she says, making a big show of it and heaving a large, exasperated sigh and throwing her arms up in the air. Inside, she doesn't mind, not really, but she'd never give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

-.-

She wakes up the next day to the sound of frenzied barking and yelling.

"Tantei, _sit_. No, sit. Sit. Sit. SIT!"

Heaving a sigh, she climbs out of bed, opens the door, and simply stares as their newfound dog runs across the apartment, a roll of toilet paper clamped tightly between his teeth. Heiji chases after, swearing madly all the while.

She considers helping him, but decides against it. She retreats back into her room and pulls the blankets over her head.

-.-

Two hours later, freshly rejuvenated, she decides that it's time to face the world head-on. She steps out of her room and tilts her head, looking inquiringly at the black marks on the wall, the dog food splattered across the floor, and the streams of toilet paper decorating the couch.

She sits down next to Heiji, who has a currently sleeping dog on his lap.

"You'll help me clean, won't you?"

She lets out a cross between a snort and a laugh. "I thought you said that you'd clean up after him and that I wouldn't even know he was here."

"You're going to make me beg, aren't you?" His eyes are closed too, and for a moment, she feels sorry for him.

She decides to change the subject. "Why did you take him home?"

"Hm?" He opens his eyes for a second, then closes them again. "I don't know. I was just walking home, and then I heard barking, so I turned, and I saw the pound – you know, the one a few blocks away from the university… and then I saw him, and I wasn't really thinking about it, but before I knew it, I had him in my arms and I was taking him home."

"You really like him, though." It's not a question.

"Yeah."

"Even though you've known him for less than twenty-four hours."

"Yeah."

She stands up and pats him on the head. He opens his eyes, annoyed. She simply laughs.

"Did you _really_ have to name him Tantei?"

-.-

Sometimes, she gets questions from the other girls in her class.

"Where do you live, Kazuha-san?"

And she'll tell them, the apartment building on the other side of the city. When they express amazement at the fact that she lives so much farther out than the rest of them, they ask, "well, why do you live so far?"

And she'll answer, "I'm sharing an apartment with someone. We split the rent. It's a nicer apartment than I could ever afford by myself."

Then, of course, they ask exactly _who_ she's sharing the apartment with.

"Just a friend," she'll answer, evasively, "just a friend."

Because that is, after all, only what they could ever hope to be, and nothing more. She likes it that way. Really. She does, because they are different, they are worlds apart, and he is so much more than she could ever hope to have.

-.-

Kazuha has a pair of reading glasses that almost nobody knows about because she leaves them at home ninety-nine percent of the time. They're rectangular in shape, and the frames are a dark purple color that contrasts nicely against her pale skin.

Sometimes, he'll walk into the living room and see her sprawled haphazardly across the recliner in a position he's not sure the armchair is meant to hold. She'll have the glasses perched on her nose, and the textbook she's studying sitting on the floor.

He won't say anything when he walks into scenes like these. But he _will_ lean against the nearest wall and just… watch her. Sometimes she'll see him and she'll stick her tongue out at him, and he'll make a face and leave. But then again, there are times when she doesn't notice him, and he'll stand there for minutes, just looking.

-.-

Heiji is sorely tempted to kick the doors down when the elevator makes a strange, creaky noise, comes to a sudden halt, and the lights go out.

The girl beside him sighs. "Looks like we're stuck, aren't we?"

"I didn't notice," he snaps, and feels sorry immediately after.

"It's not _my_ fault," she snaps back, and he listens as she sits down on the opposite end of the elevator. They're alone, the two of them, and he's not quite sure if that's a good thing or not.

The silence is deafening, and he knows how cliché that sounds, but it's true. He contemplates what he can say so that it won't be so awkward, but she beats him to it.

"Why did you move to Tokyo?"

The question takes him by surprise. He starts. "What?"

"You heard me." He can vividly picture her smiling wryly at him.

"I – yeah. I did." He's stammering and he's uncomfortable and he wants to slap himself across the face, and he probably would have, if he wasn't so concerned about the attention he'd get from her. "Honestly?" His mind goes back to that day when he'd received his acceptance letters and how he'd easily picked one letter from all the others, "I don't really know."

"Do you think we'd still be in touch if we never moved in together? If I stayed in Osaka and you went to Tokyo? Or if you stayed in Osaka and I went to Tokyo?" He realizes that she's in a sort of strange mood, wistful and curious. He hates it when she gets into these moods because then he is forced to be honest.

"Maybe a little," he concedes, "since our parents…"

"No," she interrupts, "in touch on _our own_, without them."

He could lie, he could easily, _easily_ lie.

But he doesn't. "No," he answers, and then the lights flicker back on and the elevator doors slide open. He stands up first, brushing dust off his pants, and offers his hand to her. She merely looks at it, and asks him, point-blank, "What happened?"

He wishes he knew the answer.

-.-

A young man and woman, living together in an apartment, unmarried, is fodder for the prying eyes of their neighbors, fellow classmates, and teachers.

"Disgraceful, really," a traditional middle-aged woman declares, "they haven't even graduated from college and they're already living in sin. They could at least have the decency to get married, young as they are."

"I don't really mind," a particularly loud and voluptuous girl who's had her eye on Heiji for ages, "because, you know, as long as she doesn't keep him all to herself –"

"I wish they'd just admit that they're shacking up already," a vulgar man Heiji barely remembers from his biology class states, "then everybody can just shut up and get on with their lives already."

"Well, it's certainly suspicious," his history _professor_, of all people, states, "but it's not really any of our business, now, is it?"

But it's his sociology professor – why _did_ his teachers have such an interest in his love life, or lack thereof, anyway? – who inevitably stops the rumors with a simple and almost clichéd statement, "Well, it's not just a river in Egypt, you know…"

-.-

There are nights when she's done with all her homework and she's tired of watching T.V. So she searches for her roommate, wanting to spend time with him – maybe they'll go out and walk Tantei, or go out and rent a movie, or see a movie, or maybe eat out for dinner…

"Heiji!" she calls, peeking into his room.

He answers her with a distracted, "What?" while poring over three textbooks at once. She silently makes her way over to where he sits with papers and notebooks and different colored pens. She peers at a complicated looking diagram and a lengthy paragraph and wrinkles her nose. She listens as he murmurs formulas and intricate English phrases under his breath.

"Ah. Nothing. I'll leave you to study."

She leaves the room.

-.-

He's completely and totally taken aback when, one day, he sees her hacking mercilessly away at a watermelon. There's a voice in his head that tells him he ought to go and at least _try_ to take the sharp knife away from her, but instead he leans against the doorway and contemplates his options.

In the end, he comes to the conclusion that the world is much safer without Kazuha holding a glinting blade in her hands, and he warily approaches her.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm cutting up a watermelon."

"…" Heiji decides not to point out that she hasn't even actually cut _into_ the watermelon. "Do you need any help?"

"No," she grunts out while still trying and failing to cut the fruit, "I'm fine, I can –"

The knife drops to the floor with a reverberating _clang_ and she lets out a sigh. He's immediately by her side, pulling her hand to him, inspecting the cut.

"It's not deep," he says.

"It's barely a scratch," she says, absently. "Don't worry about it."

He lets it go, but still frowns at her. "Go put a band-aid on it. I'll cut the watermelon."

She rolls her eyes as Tantei marches into the room, sniffing at the knife. Acts completely ignorant when the dog skillfully holds the knife between his teeth and begins skipping merrily across the room. Snorts to herself as Heiji begins to curse. It's his fault, she thinks, _he's_ the one that brought home the dog in the first place.

-.-

He walks into the apartment, calling, "I'm home!" and frowns slightly when he doesn't get an answer. He turns and goes into the living room, and sees her curled up on one end of the couch – it never fails to amuse him because she _never_ stretches out on the entire couch, preferring to simply squeeze herself in one corner – staring intently at the T.V.

He sits down next to her. Not too close, but close enough. "What are you watching?" He feels like he should remember this show… it takes place under the sea, and there are little fishes, and –

"_The Little Mermaid_," she answers, never once taking her eyes off the screen.

"Oh." He's not quite sure what to say to that, so he settles for saying nothing at all, choosing to watch as the little red-headed mermaid swims around and sings and laughs.

The last thing he remembers before falling asleep is his head, somehow making its way onto her lap, and her, singing, _"But I can see, I'll never be… part of your world…" _

-.-

She still remembers the pain she felt – heartbreaking, heartsplitting, like she was going to stop breathing right then and there – when she walks into the apartment and sees him with another girl. They aren't _doing_ anything, just working on a project for his English class. She even remembers him telling her about it.

But she's not prepared for it.

She doesn't understand _why_ she feels this way because she thinks that by now, she should be used to it, that the feelings should already be gone. She's lived with him for nearly two years now and if _something_ was meant to happen, then surely it would have happened already.

So, she thinks, numbly, that rightfully, she _shouldn't_ be feeling anything. At all.

The word _epiphany_ crosses her mind and she stands, frozen to the spot, watching as the girl, nameless, leans over and snatches a gluestick, how she smiles at him and asks him a question or two, and how he smiles back and answers, and writes something down and points to something in the textbook.

And then she realizes that she can't handle this at all.

-.-

That night, she sneaks into his room and climbs into bed next to him. He's already in the deepest depths of slumber and doesn't start, shift, or acknowledge her. But she moves closer to him, just to inhale his scent, to make a memory, and closes her eyes. She departs after an hour or so, and he never realizes.

-.-

She leaves on a Sunday morning, and he does nothing to stop her.

Instead, he sits at the table, watching as she drags her suitcases out of her room, not saying anything at all. The moment replays itself in his head, over and over and over again.

_"I'm moving out."_

Maybe he should say something, he thinks vaguely, maybe he should try to stop her.

But trying to stop Kazuha is like trying to stop a train going downhill. Impossible. Futile. Pointless.

Minutes trickle by, the clock's _ticks_ and _tocks_ drowning in his mind.

It's far too soon, he thinks, seeing her standing at the front door, three suitcases and five, no, six boxes piled in a large wall, blocking his view of her. Because even though he doesn't exactly believe in _forever_, he thinks that they should have been together – _longer_.

Her father comes to pick her up. She's found an apartment on the other side of town, she tells him, and they probably won't see each other again. They go to different universities, after all.

As her father carries two boxes down the hall, and she picks up a suitcase and proceeds to haul it out of the apartment, he takes another suitcase – the second to last one – and walks silently behind her. He offers her father a polite, strained smile as he goes upstairs to pick up the last one.

It's when she's getting into the front seat, an arm reaching out to close the door, when flashes of the reckless seventeen-year-old he once was shines through, grabbing her by the wrist. She glances up at him, startled.

"Why?" he hears himself asking.

Her wrist falls limp in his grasp. "I'm giving you the life that you want."

Former detective or not, he doesn't understand. "What are you talking about?"

"I never belonged," she says, "not on your mystery cases, not in your honors classes, not in your prestigious university, not in your life. And I'm sick of tagging along." She laughs slightly at the look on his face. "I'll miss you too. And maybe we'll see each other again someday, who knows? But this is better. It is." And she cuts him off when he opens his mouth, "_for me._"

The door closes.

-.-

_This is the fate you've carved on me. _

_Your law of gravity. _

_This is the fate you've carved on me. _

_On me. _

-.-

Her new roommate is a short-haired girl with glasses. Ann, she says, when Kazuha asks her name, just Ann. She's a tad antisocial, gets decent grades, and does yoga in the mornings. She's polite, clean, a good cook, and attends the same university as Kazuha, majoring in English literature.

She's also more perceptive than Kazuha would have liked.

"So," she says one day over cold cereal and eggs, "what are you running from?"

Kazuha stiffens. "Nothing."

Ann smiles slightly. "Of course."

-.-

It takes a long while before it fully settles in – _she's gone. _And there are times when he still forgets, times when he'll sit at the table, eating breakfast silently, wondering why she isn't up yet, why she hasn't come to eat breakfast yet. And then he realizes that she's _gone_ and he doesn't know what he's supposed to feel.

He finds that he can't sleep without her. Which is silly, really, and this he knows, because it's not like they ever made it a habit of sleeping next to each other. He vaguely remembers her sneaking into his room once or twice, but she's always gone when he wakes up in the morning, and he can never tell if it was a dream or not.

Weeks pass. The apartment feels cold.

-.-

For the third night in a row, she lies on the couch, staring blankly at the T.V. screen at three in the morning. She's not even sure what show it is, but she knows that she can't sleep. It's too cold.

Sometimes she wishes she could turn back time and change the ways things turned out. She wishes that she could go back to the exact moment in time when things started to change and twist it around so that they _didn't_ change. She wishes she could go back to the moment where she'd given up, and make it so that she _didn't_. Maybe things would be different then.

And then she closes her eyes and dozes fitfully for two hours. She wakes up when the faintest rays of light hit her skin, and moves to make breakfast.

-.-

"It's too damn cold," he mutters bitterly under his breath, watching as Tantei darts around the large expanses of the park and barks at the smallest things.

He walks in large strides until the distance between them is gone. He wonders why Tantei is so happy, and then he wonders if he was ever that happy when he was younger.

They arrive home, and Tantei springs towards Kazuha's door – because it's _still_ her room, although he's considered getting a new roommate – and makes himself comfortable on her bed. Heiji glares.

-.-

He is the first to break.

It's two-thirty in the morning, and he lies, wide-awake, in his bed. He stares at the ceiling and does everything he can to make him go to sleep. He counts sheep. He says prayers in a comatose, repetitive state. He tries not to think.

And then he reaches to his bedside table and fumbles for his cellphone. He dials familiar numbers. He presses the phone to his ear – the metal is cold, startlingly so – and waits.

The rings cease. He listens to the sound of her soft breathing.

"I couldn't sleep," he says.

A pause.

"Me either."

-.-

_I'd like to know if you'd be open to starting over _

_From scratch _

_I'd like to know if you'd be open to giving me _

_A second chance _

-.-

"I am running from something," she says, suddenly, and bites her lip in a moment of hesitation.

Ann looks up from _Pride & Prejudice_, a small smile on her face. "I know."

-.-

His grades, his professors have noted, are now exceedingly, wonderfully high. Not that they hadn't been before, but now, now, his work is flawless and breathtakingly perfect. Genius, they say, a brilliant genius.

He doesn't care.

And then he wonders when she became such a big impact on his life, wonders how she seemingly snuck inside without him ever noticing. Wonders why he even let her in the first place.

So when the doorbell rings, his heart _beats_ and he walks, faster than normal, towards the door, and thrusts it open.

"Kudo," he says, blinking in surprise.

-.-

_"Here's the truth about the truth,"_ Shinichi tells him, _"it hurts. So we lie."_

-.-

She finds that in the end, she can't stay away, and shortly after Heiji breaks, she does too. Sometime between midnight and sunrise, she reaches for her cellphone and calls.

He answers after two rings. His voice isn't tinged with sleep at all.

"I couldn't sleep," she tells him, mimicking his previous words to her.

"Ah." A noncommittal syllable.

Silence. Comfortable silence. She imagines that they've probably been like that, on the phone, without saying a single thing to each other, for about ten minutes. But it's strange, because the sound of his breathing is soothing and already she feels herself being lulled to sleep –

"Tantei – he – misses you."

She opens her mouth. "I miss him, too."

-.-

When they run into each other at the mall, neither says anything. She tries to pretend she didn't see him. He does the same. But fate is cruel and twisted, and they find themselves in the same elevator going up to the second story.

They are alone.

There are so many things to say, he thinks, _come back home_, _how are you_, _are you seeing anybody_, _do you miss me_?

There are so many things to say, she thinks, _what have you been up to lately_, _how's Tantei doing_, _has life been better without me_, _do you miss me? _

But he doesn't say anything, and neither does she, and in the end it's just the two of them, with the sound of elevator music softly permeating their ears. They don't look at each other, and when the elevator doors slide open, they go in opposite directions from each other. It's better this way, they think, and try to believe it.

-.-

Later that night, she calls him. It's one in the morning.

"I saw you at the mall today," she says.

A beat of silence. "Yeah," he replies, "I saw you there too."

-.-

She wakes up at around five-thirty, but her first class of the morning isn't until nine. When she peers out her window, she sees that it's snowing. Snatching a thick coat, a scarf, and gloves from her closet, she pads silently out the front door, descends four flights of stairs, and makes herself comfortable on a particularly thick, snow-covered patch of grass.

It's chilly, but she doesn't mind. She's right in the middle of the lawn, and she's aware that she'll get some funny stares later on in the morning, but for now, she's content.

She's not sure how long she's been out there when she hears footsteps approaching her from behind. Maybe it's been an hour. The sun is rising now, coloring the skies a faint pink. She doesn't bother to turn around.

"Hey. Mind if I join you?"

"Sure." She pats the spot next to her, and Ann sits down, shivering slightly.

"It's cold," the short-haired girl says.

"Mm," she answers, "but it's a nice cold."

Ann tilts her head in curiousity.

"Because it feels so good when you finally get in front of the fire, you know? Then it's all warm and hot and _nice_. I mean, you can always sit in front of the fire any day, but –"

"But the only way to truly enjoy a good fire is when you know how it feels to go without heat, to sit in the freezing cold for hours on end. Otherwise, it doesn't mean anything. Right?" Ann smiles.

"Right," Kazuha replies, and then it's suddenly too cold and too black and she falls.

-.-

The phone rings.

When Heiji picks up the phone, it's cold and his fingers tremble from the temperature. When he hangs up, he feels ice in his veins and his entire body shakes.

-.-

"It's just a fever," a short-haired girl reassures him, "she should be fine in a few days."

"Ah." He doesn't know what to say, really. Doesn't know what compelled him to go all the way to the other side of Tokyo just to see her. It's just a fever, after all. And so he asks, "why did you call me?"

The short-haired girl, Ann, she tells him, simply smiles. "Well, you're her friend, aren't you?"

"I –" Isn't he? "Yes." The word almost doesn't come out. "But how did you get my number?"

"It was in her phone, of course." She points to a cream-colored door. "That's her room. Go in."

-.-

When he enters, she is sleeping. He closes the door silently behind him and tiptoes to her bed. When he reaches her, not a word escapes his lips, and he watches her breathe.

He raises a hand tentatively to her forehead. Still hot. Her breathing is a little more ragged than he'd like, but at least she's resting now. He kneels down on the floor and looks at her. Her eyes are still closed. She'll probably be out for the rest of day. She always slept like a log whenever she got sick.

His fingers brush against hers before he leaves the room.

-.-

"She'll only eat chicken noodle soup if there are actually _noodles_," he finds himself telling her roommate, "and she only likes the grape flavored cough syrup, in case you find yourself having to give her cough syrup… and she likes applesauce, too, when she's sick like this because it doesn't take a lot of effort to chew…"

Ann smiles – again. "I'll keep that in mind."

-.-

Eventually, of course, Kazuha's sickness comes to a close and she's able to get out of bed and fend for herself. She opens the refrigerator and stares at the copious amount of applesauce.

When Ann gets back home from class, she asks her about it.

"Well," the other girl replies, "Hattori-kun said that you liked applesauce when you were sick."

"He was here?" Drowning, falling.

"Yes. Yes, he was."

"Oh."

-.-

The next Sunday, she takes the bus to the other side of the city. She walks around aimlessly for what seems like hours, until she finds herself staring at her old apartment building. She's tried, three times, to go in, but each time her courage fails her and she turns away.

So she walks around the block and wanders around the park – the park where she used to take Tantei on his walks. She plops down on a swing, closes her eyes, and just _swings_.

A shadow falls upon her. She opens her eyes.

-.-

He stands there and stares, some sort of unknown emotion coursing through his veins. Anger? Disbelief? What? He tightens his grip on Tantei's leash and he feels like he should _say_ something but he doesn't know what.

"You're… here."

She blinks, clearly uncomfortable. "Ah… yes."

Tantei barks and darts forward to nuzzle against Kazuha's leg. She smiles down at him and scratches him behind the ears. Pointedly avoiding his gaze. He knows her body language.

Neither of them says anything.

He listens to the sound of her breathing. It's better, much better than when he saw her last, and part of him can't help but feel relieved. The sun is slowly setting.

"I heard that – that you came to visit me," she begins, "while I was sick."

A pause. "I did."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Tantei howls softly, a pitying sound. Heiji's eyes are glued to his dog, and he wishes _he_ could howl, too, but he can't, so he sits in silence instead.

"So you're better now," he finds himself saying.

"Yeah."

Silence. Painful, painful silence. He breaks it first. "How did we get here?" he asks, suddenly, "how did we get from being roommates who fought over whose turn it was to clean out the toilets to – to _here_, complete and total strangers?"

Her voice is distant. "People change."

"No. _You_ changed." His voice grows louder, as if all of the things he's kept bottled up inside all these months have finally taken its toll on him and are now pouring out, out, out, unstoppable, "and I still don't know why."

"It's not you."

"Then, _dammit_, tell me what it is."

"You wouldn't understand." She's still not looking at him.

"Then _make_ me." His voice is quieter, but steely, a testament of his maturity and his newfound ability to reel in his temper and change it into something more intimidating. "This isn't you. Back then, you would – you would have _never_ run away, you would have _never_ quit, you would have stayed and beat some sense into me until I _did_ understand."

"And that is exactly what I'm saying. I'm not – I'm not that seventeen year old anymore. I'm not that same girl that tagged along on all of your little murder mysteries, that followed you around all the time. I waited. I did, I really did. I lived with you for two years, didn't I?" He still can't see her eyes, but he sees the slow, sad smile that spread across her lips, "and I got tired of waiting."

"And that's my fault. I know." He continues to look at her, despite the fact that she won't bring her head up to look at him. "I _know_. But I didn't – I thought it was okay."

Finally, she looks up, eyes brimming with tears. They fall down her cheek, one by one, and she makes no move to wipe them off. "It wasn't." She shakes her head. "And we're not worth it. There's somebody else better for you. One that won't run, one that'll be – be okay with just being _okay_ and –"

It happens in a blur. He grabs the chains of the swings, pulls them, hard, and kisses her. Hungrily, with the intensity of too many years lost. Passionately, with the knowledge of too many tears cried. Forcefully, with the regret of too much unnecessary pain. He kisses her, he kisses her, and she kisses him back, and he _tastes_ her, vanilla, and _tears_, and in that one moment, everything is perfect.

He pulls away, breathless. She stares at him, lips swollen.

"It's you," he says, "it's _always_ been you."

-.-

That night, she sleeps at theirapartment. She sleeps in her clothes from that day, in her own bed, staring at the ceiling. It's the same, she realizes, it's still the same room and the same walls and floors and windows and doors. She feels strange, a little unsettled, yet happy.

Home, she thinks, fleetingly, _home_.

She climbs out of bed and opens the door. She crosses the hallway and stops in front of his door. Her eyes land on the doorknob, glinting in the moonlight. She turns it; the door creaks open. She shuts the door behind her. She walks slowly to his bed and hesitates.

He shifts from underneath the blankets. He moves closer to the wall, and holds the blankets up. She crawls in and pulls the blankets to her chin. He slips an arm around her and she presses her face to his shoulder.

They are asleep within minutes.

Home.

_If I lay here _

_If I just lay here _

_Would you lie with me _

_And just forget the world? _

**FIN – **

And this Kiss shall henceforth be known as the Kiss that took over my life. Literally. For weeks I was living and _breathing_ this chapter, thinking of every possible way to write it, every possible way to end it. I don't think I'm still completely and totally satisfied with it, but as a writer, I don't think I ever really want to be satisfied. (laughs) Writer's masochism, right?

I almost hate to put such a long note at the end of it because I don't want to disrupt the mood, but I have to do what I have to do –

As has been said, this story was inspired by two amazing Tezuka/Fuji stories, _Tokyo Lights_ and _Road_. If you're interested in reading them, say so in your review and I'll happily give you the link. They _are_ shounen-ai/yaoi/BL stories, though, so be warned.

The first song used, way in the beginning (_This may never start, we could fall apart…)_, is titled _Memory_ and is sung by _Sugarcult_. The second song (_But I can see, I'll never be, part of your world…)_ is titled _Part of Your World_ and is from the movie, _The Little Mermaid_. The third song (_This is the fate you've carved on me…)_,is titled _Gravity_ and is sung by _Vienna Teng_. The fourth song (_I'd like to know if you'd be open to starting over from scratch…)_ is titled _Scratch_ and is sung by _Kendall Payne_. The last song, _(If I lay here…)_ is titled _Chasing Cars_ and is sung by Snow Patrol. (Wow. I do use a lot of songs in my work, don't I?)

This quote – _"Here's the truth about the truth. It hurts. So we lie."_ is, once again, taken from Grey's Anatomy, from the episode _Tell Me Sweet Little Lies_.

Lastly – yes, the author's notes will finally end! – a huge thank you goes out to both **_Candyland_**, who listened to me rant and rave while this sucked the life out of me, and **_Lyn-chan_**, who did a wonderful job of beta-reading this for me.

And of course, to all of you, my oh-so-lovely-and-awesome-and-irreplaceable reviewers. I don't think I could have ever gotten this far without you guys. Thank you, seriously.

And so, _Heiji and Kazuha: 30 Kisses_ has finally come to an end. It's been real fun.

**FIN **

8.14.2006.


End file.
